Wason 
 DS796a 
 H77A2» 
 1880 
 
 1 
 
 
 ASIA 
 
 
 . 1 -^^ '-Cj- . 
 
CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 
 COLLECTION ON CHINA 
 
 AND THE CHINESE 
 
Cornell University Library 
 DS 796.H77A2 1880 
 
 Hong Kong. :return to an .?<'i!rSS?,,9,|,,!|'|S,,H| 
 
 3 1924 023 436 821 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 z 
 
 «rr;i; 
 
 mtt 
 
 fidm-t^ ^ 
 
 PRINTED tNU.S. A. 
 

 ^\ 
 
 y //^/ 
 
 Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023436821 
 
H77A^-^ , HONGKONG. 
 
 1 .-^ .-»•>. 
 
 ! '^•s'^ 
 
 RETURN 
 
 To an Address of the House of Lords, dated 22nd March 1880, 
 
 Foa 
 
 Copy of Report of the Commissioneks appointed by the Governor 
 of Hong Kong to inquire into the Working of the Contagious 
 Diseases Ordinance of 1867; and Copy of the Despatch of the 
 Secretary of State for the Colonies in reply thereto. 
 
 Colonial Office, "1 
 May 1880. J 
 
 (TVie Lord Stanley of Alder ley.) 
 
 )rdered to be printed 21st May 1880. 
 
PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 COPY of Report of the Commissioners appointed by His Excellency John 
 Pope Hennessy, c.m.g., Governor and Commander in Chief of the Colony 
 of Hong Kong and its Dependencies, to inquire into the Working of the 
 Contagious Diseases Ordinance, 1867- 
 
 (jVbfe.—The Evidence and Appendices are not presented.) 
 
 COMMISSION BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR. 
 
 (L.s.) J. Pope Hennessy. 
 
 Whereas during the progress of a coroner's inquest held at Hong Kong by 
 James Russell, Esq., Coroner for the Colony of Hong Kong, and a jury of three 
 persons, on the I7th, 18th, 19th, and 29th days of October, a.d. 1877, touching 
 the death of a certain woman named Fung-a-Sz, alias A-Sau, evidence was laid 
 before the said coroner and jury concerning certain practices connected with the 
 operation of the " Contagious Diseases Ordinance, 1867," and the suppression of 
 unlicensed brothels : And whereas the said practices were for the first time brought 
 to my knowledge by the said evidence : And whereas the jury aforesaid 
 appended to their verdict at the above inquest a special finding which, among 
 other matters, contained the following recommendation, viz. : — 
 
 " The jury aforesaid would strongly recommend that the whole system of 
 " obtaining convictions against keepers of unlicensed brothels be thoroughly 
 "revised, as the present practice is, in their opinion, both illegal and 
 " immoral :" 
 
 And whereas for the furtherance of public interests, and with a view to such 
 revision, it is expedient that certain inquiries and investigations should be made 
 touching the operation of the said Contagious Diseases Ordinance generally, 
 and especially as to the regulations and machinery in force for the suppression 
 of unlicensed brothels : And whereas such inquiries and investigation will be 
 most conveniently prosecuted by means of a Commission : I, John Pope Hennessy, 
 Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George^ 
 Governor and Commander in Chief of the Colony of Hong Kong and its depen- 
 dencies, and Vice Admiral of the same, do hereby under my hand and the seal 
 of the said Colony appoint you, the Honourable Wilham Keswick, Unofficial 
 Member of the Legislative Council, Thomas Child Hayllar, Esq., one of Her 
 Majesty's Counsel for the Colony of Hong Kong, and the Rev. Ernest John 
 Eitel, Master of Arts, Doctor of Philosophy, to be a Commission for instituting 
 and prosecuting all needful or proper inquiries in that behalf, and to take evi- 
 dence in the premises, and to report to me all evidence so taken by you and 
 also your opinions thereon. And I do hereby require you to commence your 
 inquiries forthwith, and to proceed therein continuously, and to make your report 
 to me as aforesaid with all reasonable dispatch. And I do hereby empower 
 you, durmgthe course, and for the purposes of your said C;ommission, to demand 
 and obtam access at all times to all papers, records, and documents relatina: to 
 the subject matter of the said Commission being in the custody and under the 
 control of the several Pubhc Departments within this Colony ; and from time 
 to time to call before you and examine all persons superintending or emnloved 
 m or under any of the said departments. And I do hereby charge all persons in 
 the public service to be aiding and assisting unto you herein 
 
 Given under my hand and under the seal of the Colony of Hono- Kona: at 
 Victoria, m the said Colony, this 12th day of November, a.d. 1877. ^ 
 
 By his Excellency's Command, 
 
 Cecil a Smith, Acting Colonial Secretary. 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 
 
 Proceedings of the Inquests. 
 
 Coroner's Office, Hong Kong, 
 Sir, 30 October 18^7. 
 
 I beg to forward, for the information of his Excellency the Governor, two 
 inquisitions taken by me yesterday in the cases of two Chinese women who were 
 killed by falling from the top of a house in Peel-street, on the night of the 16th 
 or morning of the 17th instant. One of the women died on the spot, whilst the 
 other lived till the 27th instant, when she died in the Government Civil 
 Hospital. 
 
 In calling attention to the special finding of the jury, I should like to add a 
 suggestion in reference to what are termed smoke-holes. 
 
 Inspector Lee stated that he had been on the roofs of many houses, and that 
 he had never seen any in which the smoke-holes had not some protection in the 
 shape of a parapet except those of houses 42 and 44, Peel-street. 
 
 It is possible that there are many others, and I think it would be desirable if 
 the attention of the Surveyor General* was called to this matter with the view 
 of suggesting some fence or parapet in case of new buildings or houses under- 
 going repair. 
 
 I have, &c. 
 The Hon. Cecil C. Smith, James Russell, Coroner. 
 
 Acting Colonial Secretary, &c., &c., &c.. 
 Hong Kong. 
 
 (No. 62.) 
 
 Warrant to Summon Jury. 
 
 Coroner's Inquest at the New Government Civil Hospital on the body of Fung- 
 a-Sz, alias A-Sau, a Chinese female adult, at four o'clock in the afternoon on 
 this I7th day of October, in the year of Our Lord 1877. 
 
 To the Captain Superintendent of Police and his assistant Constables of the 
 
 Colony of Hong Kong. 
 
 By virtue of my office, these are in Her Majesty's name to charge and com- 
 mand you that on sight hereof you summon and warn six able and sufficient men 
 of the Colony personally to be and appear before me at the time and place above 
 
 written, 
 
 * I have personally examined these houses. They do not differ from others in the Chinese quarters of 
 the <aty. Although the roof-slopes are very steep, many of them have hatchways on the ridges for the 
 purpose of giving access to the tilea on which to spread and dry wash clothes. None have parapets or 
 other protection, and the question to consider when the new Building Ordinance under preparation is sub- 
 mitted to his Excellency, will be whether one should forbid tliese hatchways as dangerous, or else compel 
 builders to erect parapets or balustrading in lieu of eaves. The same applies to flat roofs. The smoke-holes 
 (so called) are in reality small yards left in the rear of houses for ventilation and light, and not for smoke. 
 The following diagram of an ordinary row of China houses shows these tiny yards, generally from 6 to 10 
 feet square, mariced A., B., C, D., etc. 
 
 HOUSE. 
 
 HOUSE. 
 
 HOUSE. 
 
 A 
 
 COOK 
 HOUSE. 
 
 B 
 
 cook 
 
 HOUSE. 
 
 COOK 
 HOUSE. 
 
 HOUSE. 
 
 HOUSE. 
 
 COOK 
 HOUSE. 
 
 E 
 
 It was down into one of these yards that the two girls fell off the cook-house roof, which was flat. I can- 
 not quite agree with Inspector Lee's statement that in all other houses the rooft are fenced round. My 
 experience is that but comparatively few houses have this protection, and that only in frail bamboos or 
 wood, -which soon rots and becomes insecure as a fence. 
 
 J. M, Price, Surveyor General. 
 23 November 1877. 
 
 0.56. A 2 
 
4 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 written, then and there to do and execute all such things as shall be given them 
 in charge on behalf of our Sovereign Lady the Queen touching the death of thfe 
 above-named person, and for your so doing this is your warrant ; and that you 
 also attend at the time and place above mentioned to make a return of those you 
 shall so summon, and further to do and execute such other matters as shall be then 
 and there enjoined you. And have you then and there this warrant. 
 
 Given under my hand and seal, this 17th day of October in the year above 
 
 written. t, „ ^ 
 
 James Russell, Coroner. 
 
 Summon the following to form a panel : — 
 
 1 . P. Rose - - Siemssen and Company. 
 
 2. J. Jack - - - Hong Kong Distillery Company. 
 
 3. Conrad H. Bluhm - Pustau and Company. 
 
 4. Robert F. Smith - Dock Company. 
 
 5. A. G. Aitken - Dock Company. 
 
 6. W. S, Ramsey - Gas Company. 
 
 Jury :- 
 
 C. V. Creagh, 
 Acting Captain Superintendent of Police. 
 
 John Jack - - of East Point, Foreman. 
 
 R. F. Smith - - of The Dock Company. 
 
 Conrad H. Bluhm - of Messrs. Pustau and Company. 
 The manner of execution of this warrant appears by the above schedules. 
 The answer of 
 
 Joseph While, 
 P. C, 42, Summoning- Officer. 
 
 In charge of the case — Inspector McKie. 
 
 Information of witnesses severally taken and acknowledged on behalf of our 
 Sovereign Lady the Queen, at the house known as the Government Civil 
 Hospital, in Victoria, in the said Colony, on the I7th day of October, in the 
 year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy seven, before James 
 Russell, gentleman, coroner for the said Colony, touching tbe death of A-Sau, 
 a Chinese female, surname unknown, then and there lying dead as follows, to 
 wit : — The jury having been duly sworn and having viewed the body ; — 
 
 Charles John Wharry, sworn, states : — I am superintendent of the 
 Government Civil Hospital. The body of deceased was brought to the hospital 
 at half-past one o'clock this morning. It was then recently dead. It is that 
 of a Chinese female, about 35 years of age. The body is very fat. I 
 found on examination a fracture of the right upper arm, and also a fracture on 
 the right thigh. The jaw was broken into several pieces. There was a deep 
 cut on the chin, and the jaw was badly fractured. Death appeared to have 
 resulted from the shock from these injuries. The injuries were such as might 
 be caused by a fall from a height. At the same time this morning there was 
 another woman fetched to hospital suffering from fracture of the left thigh, and 
 a comminuted fracture of the lower jaw, with a severe cut on the chin. I think 
 she will probably recover. Inspector Grey reported to me that the deceased 
 and the injured woman had both come from the same house, and that they had 
 fallen from a height. 
 
 C. J. Wharry, m-d. 
 
 Inspector John Lee, being duly cautioned as to his position as a witness it 
 bemg alleged that he was m pursuit of the women in a house when the deceased 
 came by her death, expresses his desire to give evidence. 
 
 John Lee, sworn, and told that he need not answer any question which he 
 may thmk tends to criminate him, states: -I am an Inspector of Brothels 
 As Inspector of Brothels I have standing orders from the Registrar General to 
 
 enter 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 5 
 
 enter any house suspected of being an unlicensed brothel. I have no orders in 
 writing to that effect. I have been inspector since November 1870, and suc- 
 ceeded a man named Jameson. 
 
 Last night about six o'clock the interpreter Cheng-a-Yii came to me, and 
 I gave him ten ^1 notes to give to men who were going to discover unlicensed 
 brothels. I took the number of the notes. Inspector Whitehead, who is also 
 an Inspector of Brothels, and myself, met the interpreter at 12 o'clock, and he 
 took us to No. 9, Lyndhurst-terrace. The interpreter knocised at the door and 
 called out the name of a Chinese who was inside- The door was opened from 
 the inside. This door that I refer to was an inner door. The street door was 
 opened. We went into the house, and found three women in the rooms. 
 From what we learned we took them into custody, and they were taken to the 
 Central Station by Inspector Whitehead ; and the interpreter and myself went 
 on to No. 42, Peel-street, in consequence of information which I had received 
 from him that that house was an unlicensed brothel. We got to No. 42, 
 Peel-street, between lialf-past 12 o'clock and one o'clock, and when we got to 
 the street door the interpreter called out the name of one of the informers. 
 There was no answer for a long time, for five minutes or more. I knocked at 
 the door with my stick. A woman from the first floor looked out of the 
 window, and asked : " What do you want ? " I told her to open the door. She 
 came and opened the door. (At this juncture the coroner and jury adjourn to 
 inspect the premises, ten minutes to five o'clock). 
 
 Resumed at ten minutes past five o'clock. 
 
 John Lee, further examined, states : — The house which the coroner and jury 
 have just visited is No. 42, Peel-street. I went up the stairs which leads to the 
 upper floor of the house. On the stair there are folding half-doors. The 
 folding doors were fastened on the inside by a sliding bar. I climbed over the 
 doors and opened them, and got up to a trap door, which I found closed. That 
 trap door was opened by a man inside. "When he opened the door, he pointed 
 out a ladder leading from the cook-house to the roof, up which he said the 
 women had gone. It was then about quarter to one o'clock. I went up the 
 ladder, and got on to the platform on the roof, and I heard some people on the 
 roof on the other side of the wall which divides the flat portion of the roof of 
 44 from that of 42, and I got round the corner of that dividing wall, and 
 as I got round I saw a woman going down the trap of 44, which is similar to the 
 one on the roof of the house 42. I saw the woman gbing down, and I made a 
 grab at her and caught her sleeve, but could not stop her. At the same time, 
 I saw two other figures on the flat roof. As I grabbed at the woman, I heard 
 the crash from the roof of 44, and I did not know where the persons had gone 
 to. I did not see if they fell or jumped. 
 
 There is an unprotected open space on the roof, of 8^ feet by 5i feet, which 
 is the same width and length to the ground floor. This open space acts as a 
 smoke-ljole permitting the escape of the smoke from all the kitchens in the 
 different floors of the house. The height of the flat roof above the yard below 
 is 36 feet. The yard below is paved with granite. There is no projection into 
 that area except one piece of wood acting as a sun screen, about 1 foot broad, 
 and placed in the form of a shade for a window on the first floor. That has 
 been broken and, I think, it was the crash of that which I heard by one" of the 
 women coming into contact with it. 
 
 I followed the woman down the trap, a,nd followed her right into the street. 
 I pursued and- she ran up the steps of Peel-street, and up to Staunton-street, 
 and a Lokong caught her about 10 yards from Aberdeen-street. The woman 
 now here, Lau-a-Yee, is that woman. I took her back to the house, and gave 
 her in charge of a Lokong. The people on the ground floor called to me and told 
 me that some people had fallen into the cook-house. I went into the cook-house, 
 and saw the deceased lying on the granite on her face, with her head close to 
 an earthenware chatty, which I pointed out, and the bundle of clothing with a 
 Chinese rule lying on the top of her head, or on the back of her neck. Close 
 beside her was another woman lying on the other side of the chatty with her 
 feet against the wall and her head out towards the cook-house door. I had a 
 Chinese candle. I took up the bundle of clothes off deceased's head, and 
 turned her on her back, and there were no signs of life apparent. The other 
 woman was bleeding from the face, and her face and neck were covered with 
 
 0.56; A 3 blood. 
 
6 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 blood. She was moving as if in great pain. I sent for the ambulances at once, 
 and by this time the whole street was aroused. Dr. Gomes lives close by, and 
 he came to the place. I asked him to look at the deceased, and he did so, and 
 said she was dead. When the ambulances came I removed the women to the 
 Civil Hospital. 
 
 The deceased was called A-Sii, I believe. 1 cannot find out anything more 
 about her than that she has been in the house two or three days. 
 
 The woman who is now in hospital is called Tai-Yau, and was fined in 
 November last for keeping an unlicensed brothel. 
 
 The woman whom I took to the station is called Lau-a-Yee. She rents the 
 upper floor. The deceased is a servant-woman in the house. 
 
 There were two women besides the three referred to in the house. They are 
 servant- women. They are here now. 
 
 Lau-a-Yee is in custody, charged before the magistrate as the keeper of an 
 unlicensed brothel, and the case is postponed till the 19th. 
 
 When 1 went up the stairs and climbed over the folding doors I did not call 
 out pohce. I have been on the roof of many Chinese houses since 1 became 
 Inspector of Brothels. I have never seen any roof, but that of 42 and that of 
 44, w hich had not a protection wall round the smoke-hole or area. 
 
 I only saw one man in the house, the one who opened the trap-door. His 
 name is Ng-a-Kan. He is the informer, and was one of the men who got the 
 notes to get evidence. I only knew from the informer that women had run up, 
 and I wanted to secure them, 
 
 I had no knowledge of the existence of such a hole being unprotected. I 
 believe the women did not know of the existence of the hole, and simply ran 
 there in their endeavours to escape. 
 
 Both Inspector Whitehead and myself bad suspicions on the house No. 9, 
 Lyndhurst-terrace, for months. We had no suspicions on No. 42, Peel-street, 
 until last night at midnight. I was then told something by the interpreter, 
 and in consequence went. 
 
 Our instructions to the interpreter last night were to send to a house No. 
 258, Queen' s-road Central, and if the informers could not gain admission, then 
 to try and find some other place. We did not give any special instructions to 
 go to No. 9, Lyndhurst-terrace, last night. 
 
 John Lee. 
 
 Ng a-Kan, declared, states :— I am a carpenter living at D'Aguilar-street. I 
 am a friend of Cheng-a-Yii, the interpreter to the Inspector of Brothels. He 
 gave me seven dollars yesterday about six o'clock. He told me that the 
 Inspectors wanted to get some cases, and told me to make inquiry about un- 
 licensed brothels. 1 went with a friend surnamed Cheng last night, but we could 
 not find any in Queen's-road Central. We went into a house in Queen's-road 
 Central, over a district watchman's house. Cheng-a-Yii sent us there. The 
 people said it was a family house. 1 separated from Cheng and I searched about. 
 I intended to give back the money. I met two friends, Man-a-on and L6-a-man," 
 and they asked me to go to Lyndhurst-terrace. We went to a house to the 
 first floor about 9 o'clock. L6-a-man and Man-a-on had been there before. 
 When I got into the house I only saw three women there. One of the women 
 only was a prostitute. I did not sleep with any woman at No. 9, Lyndhurst- 
 terrace. There was a girl brought to the house'. A man named A-Nam brought 
 her. I did not have anything to do with the girl. I engaged the girl at Lynd- 
 hurst-terrace, and went with her to Peel street. No. 42. That was about 
 1 o'clock. Before the Inspectors came I had left Lyndhurst-terrace. The 
 girl who is in hospital is the one 1 had engaged. A-Nam came with me to 
 the house in Peel-sti:eet. He said he was going to sleep there, but he was not 
 going to sleep vdth a girl. I had not paid the girl, whom I had engaged, any. 
 thmg. I opened the trap-door, and let the Inspector into the floor The 
 women kneeled before me and said not to do anything, as the Inspector was 
 coming. The deceased and Tai-Yau kneeled before me. They were much 
 frightened. Tai-Yau said,-" I was fined 100 dollars before. I sold my son 
 to pay the fine, and you must not say anything now." That was before I 
 opened the door. The woman now present, Lau-a-Yee, was there. She ran 
 
 with 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 7 
 
 with the others up the stairs. I had never been in the house before. I had 
 had some drink. I was not quite drunk, but I was under the influence of 
 dribk. 
 
 Cheng-kan-Tsai paid for the supper. He got money from Cheng-a-Yii. I 
 returned my seven dollars to Cheng-a-Yu. 
 
 At 7 p.m., adjourned till 4 o'clock p.m., on the 18th, at Magistracy. 
 
 J. Russell, Coroner. 
 
 18th October 1877. 
 Inquiry resumed at the Magistracy, at 4 o'clock. — Jurors present. 
 
 Cheng-kan-Tsai, declared, states : — I am a painter living at Jervois-street. 
 On the evening of the 16th instant, between six and seven o'clock, I was walking 
 with a man named Ng-a-Kan, and went to Cheng-a-Yii's place, 31, Caine-road. 
 Cheng-a-Yii asked me to get some cases for him, to find unlicensed brothels 
 for him. We were to go and try a house in Queen's-road. We got money 
 from Cheng-a-Yii. I got three dollars and Ng-a-Kan got seven dollars. We 
 went to the house in Queen's-road over the watchman's, and went upstairs. 
 We had no previous knowledge of the women there. We stayed for five 
 minutes. We saw no men there. We proposed to them thus— " Have you got 
 any women who have got time to get any supper, and we will stop here all night ?" 
 They said — " No can, you can go." We saw three women. 
 
 We then separated. I was walking in Queen's-road, I met a friend called 
 Man-a-On. I asked him where he was going to ? He said to Singapore. I 
 said as you are going to Singapore, you ought to give me an invite to spend a 
 night at a brothel. He said — "Yes, go en, let us go to a sly brothel." He 
 had a friend with him. His name I learned to be L6-a-Man. They took me 
 to an opium shop, where we fell in with a man called A-Nara. We stayed a 
 short time there, and A-Nam took us to a house at Lyndhurst-terrace, first floor. 
 1 do not know the number. When we went up, I saw three women there. I 
 proposed that we shoidd stay there and have supper, and afterwards have girls 
 there; There was one man there. One of the women, named Sai-Kam, told 
 me that there was only one girl there, herself. I said get two more, and a 
 servant was dispatched to get two girls. A-Nam was only a pimp to find us 
 the girls. This occurred about eight o'clock. Two girls came about a quarter 
 past eight o'clock. I gave a dollar to A-Nam to buy supper. . That was one of 
 the dollars that 1 got from Cheng- Yii. The girls came, but only stayed a few 
 minutes, one minute. They promised to stay, went away, but did not return. 
 A-Nam himself went out to get two girls, and fetched two at after 11 o'clock, 
 about quarter past 11 o'clock. One called herself* Chau-Kiu, and the other 
 called herself A-S6. Three women had supper. We had supper as soon as 
 they came. We had for supper, fowls, stuffed pig's feet, sausages, eggs, and 
 about six taels of samshii. I drank three or four cups. 
 
 A-Nam-remained there, and had supper. 
 
 Man-a-On went and fetched JNg-a-Kan about nine o'clock. L6-a Man said 
 that Ng-a-Kan. might have his girl. We told Man-a-On and L6-a-Man that we 
 were going to have them arrested, and Man-a-On and L6-a-Man said they did 
 not want to have anything to do with it. They said they had no time to be 
 witnesses. Ng-a-Kan promised to pay for the women for them. I stayed at 
 Lyndhurst-terrace with the woman who was in the house. I had not paid her 
 any money. A-Nam told me that I should pay the girl two dollars. She 
 agreed to sleep with me. I was in her room when the Inspectors came. I 
 had not paid any money. A -Yii told me that when I went to bed I should pay 
 her. 
 
 Cheng-a-Yii never asked me to do any work of this kind before for him, nor 
 did I ever do it. 
 
 Ng-a-Kan was not there when the Inspector came. He left to go to Peel- 
 street with a girl. Pie went with A- So. A-Nam went with him. Chau-Kin. 
 
 0.56. A 4 went 
 
8 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 went away before A-Kan. She went with a servant woman. Man-a-On told 
 Ng-Kan to pay her, but Ng-Kan did not. o'clock, 
 
 Man-a-oi and Lo-a-Man went away together about ^alf-past 12 ocU^c^^^ 
 when I paid the money for the supper. I told Man-a-On to go and tell Chen„ 
 
 ^" Tntbp Foreman— My pay as a painter was one mace and four candareens 
 ^.v I ITout of employ now I have been out of employ for a year now. 
 
 ^"°,^'iTcJ^t?f-I opened the door -^ let the Inspector m. S^e ^he 
 girl in No. 9, Lyndhurst-terrace) was very frightened arid ««ked, What is 
 fhat^^' 1 said, "Nothing, don't be afraid." She was afraid. She ran into a 
 front room, and concealed herself under a bed. I pointed her out to the 
 Inspector The Inspector could not see me in the girl's room, because I 
 opened ihe door. ijftir ss ^ 
 
 Ng-a-Kan recalled, and further examined, states :— We had about 18 taels 
 of samshu. I had the most to drink, i.e., more than the others. The supper 
 consisted of fowls, sausages, duck, pig's tripe, pig's feet, salt eggs, and 
 
 ^ TNam is not here. I don't know where he is. I had nothing to drink 
 when I went to Peel-street. I have been employed by Cheng-a-Yii in the 
 business before. 1 have discovered three places before ; one last year, and 
 two this year. I was a witness against Tai-Yau before. I did not recognise 
 the °-irl again. She called herself A-So. She did not recognise me. A-Nam 
 ran out when the Inspector came. He knew that my being there was a plant. 
 He ran when the Inspector came. He ran away with the woman to the roof. 
 I have paid back the money, seven dollars, to Cheng-a-Yii. I got no pay last 
 year, but this year 1 got two dollars, one on each occasion before as pay. 
 
 To a Juror :— I was formerly employed with A-H6, Hip Shing shop. I left 
 there more than a month ago. 1 am looking for employment. 
 
 When did you return the seven dollars ?— I returned the money at three 
 o'clock in the morning. 
 
 I could get five dollars a month and my food, for working at my trade. 
 
 Cheng-A'Yu, declared, states : — I am interpreter to the Inspectors of 
 Brothels. I am paid 15 dollars, and have free quarters. 1 have been employed 
 since the 26th June 1876. 
 
 On the evening of the '16th instant, I gave seven dollars to the last witness, 
 and three to Kan-Tsai. I told them to go to the house. No. 258, Queen's-road 
 Central, top floor. That is the district watchman's house. I had suspected 
 that it was a secret brothel. 1 he Inspector told me that it was suspected. 
 
 Inspector Lee had given nie the notes between six and seven o'clock. 
 I watched. The men came and said they could not do anything as it was a 
 family house, Ng-a-Kan ^went away. Kan-Tsai and myself met Man-a-On 
 . and L6-a-Man, and Man-a-On said he had a few Hong Kong paper dollars, 
 which were no use to him, and he said, — " Let us go and drink the dollars." 
 He said this to me. We were always good friends. He did not show them. 
 He put his hand in his purse, but he did not show them. I did not say 
 anything, but we adjourned to an opium shop, not a smoking place. I had 
 been waiting there while the two men were in the house in Queen's-road, and 
 we went back. I knew L6-a Man for sorhe time. A man named A-Ling, who 
 came out from a room, said, — "Do you want to go to drink ? If you do I'll 
 take you." We were talking in the shop. Cheng-kan-Tsai and L6-a-Man, 
 and Man-a-On and A-Ling went away together. Kan-Tsai said,— " Pll invite 
 you." I said, if you get a case let me know. They went away. I went to the 
 painter shop, Wellington-street, waiting, and I told Kan-Tsai where I would be 
 
 found, 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 9 
 
 found, and to let A-On and A-Man know what was intended to be done. A-On 
 came and told me about ihe case, but he said he would not give evidence as he was 
 going away. A-Kan then happened to come, and I told him to go to the place. 
 I then went and told Inspector Lee, and at 12.30 I went to Lyndhurst- terrace 
 with the inspector. L6-a-Man and Man-a-On had given me the number of the 
 house. Kan -Tsai opened the door. We arrested two women and a man. The 
 man and women are now in gaol on remand. Inspector Whitehead took them 
 to the station. Inspector Lee, Kan-Tsai, and myself went to Peel-street. We 
 did not know what house to go to, and the man Kan-Tsai called A-Kan. Some- 
 body spoke from a house in Peel-street, and said he is at the opposite house, 
 A woman said — " I saw somebody go into 42," pointing to 42. We called at 
 the house, 42, "A-Kan, A-Kan." The inspector then knocked the door with a 
 stick. No answer. A woman looked out from first floor. The inspector told 
 her to open the street door. She came and opened. We went up the stairs. 
 We had not yet heard A-Kan's voice, and did not know he was there, further 
 than what we had learned on the street from the woman of the opposite house. 
 The folding doors on the stairs, which were pointed out to the jury, were closed 
 and fastened. The inspector climbed over the barrier and opened it for me. 
 We went up. I called out A-Kan. Kan-Tsai followed us. I stopped at the 
 staircase. A-Kan opened the trap door. Inspector Lee and Kan-Tsai went 
 up. A-Kan pointed his finger up towards the roof, and I remained on the 
 stairs. I don't know what happened. Kan-Tsai has returned me two dollars. 
 A-Kan gave me back seven dollars. This was about two o'clock. 1 never 
 employed Kan-Tsai before. I halve employed A-Kan before.' 
 
 To the Jurors : — The informers get one dollar reward when they get a case. 
 The Registrar General pays the money. I am employed by the Registrar 
 General's department. 
 
 By the Coroner, at the suggestion of Inspector Lee : — When we went, No. 9, 
 Lyndhurst-terrace, was any remark made by Kan-Tsai in reference to the house 
 of a black-eyed woman ?— Yes: he said, A-Kan, I believe, has gone to the 
 house of black-eyed Sam. He said, one of the girls belonged to black-eyed 
 Sam's house. Kan-Tsai went to the house of the "black-eyed" woman first. 
 The black-eyed woman said that the man had gone to the house which she 
 pointed out, 
 
 MM 
 
 Chan-a-Sz declared, states : — I am a widow, and live at Canton, I came 
 down here on the 15th instant, and went to visit the servant who lives at 42, 
 Peel-street, called Chan-a-Yee, We were old friends, and I stayed there, as I 
 wanted to get some employment. On the night 1 came, there were the mistress 
 of the house, who is here— Lau-a-Yee— my friend Chan-a-Yee and myself in 
 the front of the house. The deceased, who was a servant, was called A-S6, 
 but I don't know her surname, and the woman who is in hospital occupied the 
 second room. Nobody occupied the third room. Chan-a-Yee slept in the 
 passage. There were no men in the house. On the night of Tuesday, about 
 12 o'clock, the mistress got up to worship. I heard her, and very soon I heard 
 a great noise. I was so frightened that I did not come out of the room. I was 
 standing with A-Yee. Afterwards I saw the inspector in the house. I was 
 taken into custody with my friend, the servant A-Yee. She is servant to the 
 mistress Lau-a-Yee. 
 
 Her , 
 Chan-+a-Sg. 
 Mark, 
 
 Chan-a-Lok declared, states:— I am a servant woman to Lau-a-Yee of 42, 
 Peel-street, The last witness calls me A-Yee. I was engaged on the 28th day 
 of eighth moon. To-day is the 12th of ninth moon. I had a child of the 
 mistress with me in the passage on the night of the 16th. I did not see Tai-Yau 
 go out. I saw Tai-Yau come in with a man about 12 o'clock. I only saw one 
 man. I did not see who shut the door. Tai-Yau had a servant woman of her 
 own. She slept in the after-room. We called her A-S6. She is now deceased. 
 
 0.^6. B Lau-a-Yee 
 
10 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 Lau-a-Yee was worshipping in the front room at that time. I did not^ee 
 who opened to let the inspector into the house. I saw my mistress and Tai-Yau 
 and A-S6 run through the kitchen. I did not see where they went. I lay 
 still. I was frightened. I knew they were coming to arrest somebody. I did 
 not see anybody praying to a man not to tell the inspector. I did not hear 
 Tai-Yau say—" I was fined 100 dollars before, and I had to sell ray son to pay 
 the fine." Some time afterwards I was arrested and taken to the station, and 
 kept there all night. We were detained all day yesterday till after the inquest. 
 I'he deceased was about 40 years of age, I believe. 
 
 Her 
 Chan- + a-Lok. 
 Mark. 
 
 Adjourned at seven p.m. till 19th at four p.m., at Magistracy. Jurors put 
 under the usual recognizances. 
 
 J. Russell, Coroner. 
 
 19th October 1877. 
 
 Inquiry resumed at Magistracy this day, at four o'clock. Jurors answer their 
 
 Names. 
 
 Leung-a-Yung declared, states: — I am a coolie employed at collecting rub- 
 bish at Lap-sap- wan. I have heard that the deceased was my mother. I identify 
 some of the things shown me as the property of my mother ; I recognise the purse, 
 the measuring rule, and some of the clothing. My mother was employed as a 
 servant somewhere in Ching-wdn. She was employed in a brothel in Hollywood- 
 road last year. I last saw her about 24 days ago. I saw her in my house at 
 Tai-ping-Shd,n. T have a family house in that locality. My mother's name was 
 Fung-a-Sz. She was 57 years of age. I have learned from a woman who knew 
 my mother that she is dead. 
 
 His 
 
 Leung-+ a-Yung. 
 
 Mark. 
 
 John Lee further examined, states : — The bundle which I have now shown 
 to the last witness is the same which I found lying on the head of the deceased. 
 The purse was taken from her person at the Civil Hospital. 
 
 The standing orders I referred to were those which I learned from Inspector 
 Peterson, who was then Chief Inspector of Brothels. 
 
 The standing order was that any house which I suspected to be an unlicensed 
 brothel, if I could get any man to go in and stop with the women, or if I went 
 myself, to take the women into custody. At that time the cases were tried by 
 the Registrar General. That has been the course of procedure. Soon after I 
 joined I recollect a case where I got evidence of the keeping of an unlicensed 
 brothel at West Point, and I took the persons before the Registrar General ; and 
 the persons accused fetched a door to the yflSce, and said we had broken 'it in 
 I recollect Mr. Smith, who was then at the Registrar General's office, said we 
 were not to break, but simply enter. 
 
 Has it not been the custom to report to the Registrar General, when you had 
 reason to suspect a house being an unlicensed brothel, and obtain his authority 
 to enter?— Answer. It has not been so; but in cases where we have failed to 
 get men to stop so as to obtain evidence, and where a suspicion still existed 
 then we would report to the Registrar General. In that case the Registrar 
 tjeneral would summon the persons before him and investigate. 
 
 Has there been any change in the procedure since the Magistrates' Court was 
 made the U'lbuna under the " Contagious Diseases Ordinance," instead of the 
 Registrar Generals Office ? -Answer. No, there has not been 
 
 To a Juror: -Has there been any order given by the Registrar General to 
 employ the class of men hke A-Kan and Kan-Tsai, and other men > There has 
 been an order to get evidence, and .it is known to the department, because the 
 
 Registrar 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 1 1 
 
 Registrar General signs the bill, which is paid from the Secret Service Fund. I 
 had no instructions in reference to No. 9, Lyndhurst-terrace. 
 
 To Mr. Smith, Juror : — In previous cases have you had to chase the people on 
 the roof? — Answer. Yes ; it is a common occurrence for the women to run to 
 the roof, I have pursued them over as many as 20 houses. 
 
 In the course of the proceedings before the Registrar General or the Magis- 
 trates, I presume it would transpire whether the pursuit of women on the roof 
 had taken place ?— Yes, it would. Have you ever had your attention called to 
 the fact that such pursuit was improper or illegal ? — Answer. — I have not. In a 
 case tried on the 3rd November last, a woman got out of the front window of a 
 house, and ran along the ledge and got away. That came out in evidence at 
 the police court. 
 
 John Lee. 
 
 Henry Ernest Wodehouse, sworn, states: — I am Acting Registrar 
 General, and have held that office since the beginning of July. I had 
 knowledge of 28, Queen's-road Central, as a suspected unlicensed brothel. I 
 had issued instructions to Inspector Whitehead to take steps to obtain such 
 proof of the house being an unlicensed brothel as would secure a conviction. I 
 had got a report from outside sources about this house. I had reason to 
 suspect the house. I cannot say if I had given any instructions in reference to 
 No. 9, Lyndhurst-terrace, at any time. It may have been reported to me, but 
 I have no recollection. I do not know anything about 42, Peel-street. 
 
 Since I have been in the office, there has been no fresh order issued as to the 
 duties of the inspectors with reference to the entry of suspected unlicensed 
 brothels. The practice is for the Chief Inspector Whitehead to report to the 
 office what houses are suspected of being unlicensed brotbels, and there is an 
 instruction then given to get evidence. The practice is to make a report of the 
 suspicious houses, and then I say — " You can try and get evidence." 
 
 I would consider that, from what I know of the working of the office, the 
 inspector might consider himself at liberty to enter a suspected unlicensed 
 hrothel without previous authority from the Registrar General. 
 
 At the suggestion of Inspector Lee. — In August last, when Inspector 
 Whitehead was ill, I entered three houses and obtained convictions against two 
 of them for being unlicensed brothels ; can you remember if I reported before or 
 after the arrest ? — I cannot recollect for certain, but I should think it quite 
 possible that he only reported them to me alter the arr6st, but it may have been 
 reported to me on a previous occasion that these houses were unlicensed, as I 
 don't recollect the particular houses. 
 
 To Mr. Jack, foreman. — Is there no record kept in the office of the 
 houses which the inspector reports as suspected houses before entering ? — Answer. 
 —No. 
 
 Is the inspector then at liberty to enter any house ab his own discretion 
 without a previous authority from the head of the department ? — Answer. — 
 PVom the practice of the office great discretion has been left in the inspector's 
 hands. 
 
 H. E. Wodehouse. 
 
 William . Foulks Whitehead, sworn, states : — I am Chief Inspector of 
 Brothels. Since I have been in the department, it has been a matter of practice 
 for any of the inspectors to use his discretion as to entering any house which 
 may be suspected as being an unlicensed brothel. I have been in the depart- 
 ment since 3rd March 1874. I had reported No. 9, Lyndhurst-terrace, to the 
 Acting Registrar General, and had been told to enter some considerable time 
 before I did enter. I would have considered myself justified in entering whether 
 I had had a previous authority or not. 
 
 Has there ever been any exception taken to your entering a house -without 
 the previous authority of the Registrar General ? 
 
 None hy the Registrar General nor by anybody else. The practice has been 
 existing since I went to the office. The practice is, as stated by Mr. Wode- 
 
 0.56. B 2 house, 
 
12 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 house, of my making a general report and getting orders to obtain evidence to 
 secure a conviction. 
 
 To the Foreman: — Is it the practice for you to provide money through 
 your interpreter for outside men to treat the women on purpose to procure a 
 conviction against them?— Yes, it is. It (the money) is provided from the 
 Secret Service Fund. 
 
 W. F. Whitehead. 
 
 Lau-a-Yee declared, states: — I rent the top floor of No. 42. I have been 
 there on the 1st of the month, I rented a room to Tai-Yau on the 15th instant. 
 She had a servant with her. She was called A-S6. She was between 40 and 50 
 years of age. I recollect the night of the 16th instant, about 11 o'clock, I saw 
 Tai-Yau in the house. I heard a man called A-Nam call her to go out. She 
 went out. She came back about 12 o'clock. 1 don't know who open,ed the 
 door. A man came back with her, and so did A-Nam. He was a friend of 
 Tai-Yau's. I was worshipping. The man sat down on a chair. I asked 
 Tai-Yau what the man was doing there. She said — •' Oh, he is a shopman and 
 is my husband." I heard them knock at the door. I did not know whether 
 the people wanted to get into the first floor or to us. I asked Tai-Yau again 
 who is this ? — She again said her husband. Then I heard the inspector. I said 
 to the man — "The inspector is coming looking for you, is he ?" and he said — 
 " Yes." Then Tai-Yau said he is coming to arrest women for keeping an 
 unlicensed brothel. Come along with me and run away. 
 
 Tai-Yau ran up the ladder first. Her servant followed. I went third. A-Nam 
 followed me. I wanted to go down the next house. A-Nam said — " No." 
 He would not allow me. I seized him, and got down. He went down the 
 hatch before me (of the house 44). 1 don't know where A-Nam went. I ran 
 to the street. I believe A-Nam ran to the street. There was a man followed 
 me besides A-Nam. Somebody seized me as I went through ihe hatch. I had 
 never been on the roof before. 1 followed Tai-Yau and the others. I thought 
 they had run down the hatch. I did not see them fall. I did not know if ever 
 the other women were on the roof. Tai-Yau and the servant went on their 
 knees to the man, and Tai-Yau said—" You have come here to arrest unlicensed 
 brothel people. I was arrested last year, and I ask you for mercy to overlook 
 this." The man said—" I don't know, I don't know." 
 
 Her 
 Zau-+a-Vee. 
 
 Mark. 
 
 Further inquiry adjourned till the 29th October at four p.m. at Maeistraov 
 Jurors put under usual recognizance. & '^^y- 
 
 J. Russell, Coroner. 
 
 29th October 1877. 
 
 Jurors answer to their Names. Resumed at the Magistracy, at four p.m. 
 
 Inspector Lee wishes to explain that in 1875 the same floor had been 
 
 entered, and that the house had been declared an unlicensed brothel ; that he 
 
 had knowledge of that, and that he thinks he said that he had no prelus 
 
 so sS' " °"''- ^ ''^''''''' '' *^^ depositions does not showS he 
 
 John Lee, 
 
 At 5.30 p.m court cleared,-and jury consult as to their verdict. After an 
 hour s consultation, jury tind a special verdict. 
 
 J. Russell. 
 Ihe above informations were duly taken and subscribed before me on the 
 days and year hereinbefore written. ' ^"^ 
 
 J. Russell, Coroner. 
 
 See Inquisition. See also Inquisition in case of Mok-Tai-Yau, No. 63. 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 13 
 
 An inquisition, indented, taken for our Soverign Lady the Queen, at the House 
 known as the Magistracy, situate in Victoria, in the Colony of Hong Kong, on 
 the 29th day of October, in the year of our Lord, 1877, before James Russell, Esq., 
 Gentleman, the Coroner of our said Lady the Queen, for the said Colony, on 
 view of the body of Fung-a-Sz or A-Sau, then and there lying dead, upon the 
 oath of John Jack, Robert Fraser-Smith, Conrad Hermanti Bluhm, good and 
 lawful men of the said Colony, duly chosen, and who, being then and there 
 duly sworn, and charged to inquire for our said Lady the Queen, when, how, 
 and by what means the said Fung-a-Sz, alias A-Sau, came to her death, do upon 
 their oaths say, that the said Fung-a-Sz, alias A-Sau, on the morning of the 
 17th of October, in the year aforesaid, being on the roof of a house known as 
 44, Peel-street, Victoria, and having fled there in consequence of the entry of 
 an Inspector of Brothels into the house known as 42, Peel-street, where she 
 lived, accidentally and by misfortune fell down an open area known as a smoke- 
 hole, unto the granite pavement beneath, and by means thereof did receive 
 mortal bruises, fractures and contusions, of which she then instantly died ; and 
 so the jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do say, that the said Fung- 
 a-Sz, alias A-Sau, in manner aforesaid, accidentally, casually, and by misfortune 
 came to her death, and not otherwise. 
 
 The jury aforesaid are further of opinion that Inspector Lee, the aforesaid 
 Inspector of Brothels, exceeded his powers by entering the house. No. 42, 
 Peel-street, without a warrant, or any direct authority from the Registrar 
 General or Superintendent of Police, and would strongly recommend that the 
 whole system of obtaining convictious against keepers of unlicensed brothels 
 be thoroughly revised, as the present practice is, in their opinion, both illegal 
 and immoral. 
 
 In witness whereof, the said Coroner as well as the jurors aforesaid, have 
 hereunto set and subscribed their hands and seals, on the year and day 
 first above written. 
 
 (l. s.) J. Russell, Coroner. 
 John Jack, Foreman. 
 .R. Fraser-Smith. 
 C. H. Bluhm. 
 
 (No. 6z-) 
 
 Warrant to Summon Jury. 
 
 Coroner's Inquest at the New Government Civil Hospital on the Body of Tai- 
 Yau, at Three o'clock in the Afternoon, on the 27th day of October, in the 
 Year of our Lord, 1 877- 
 
 To the Captain Superintendent of Police and his Assistant Constables of the 
 
 Colony of Hong Kong. 
 
 By virtue of my office, these are in Her Majesty's name to charge and com- 
 mand you that on sight hereof you summon and warn six able and sufficient 
 men of the Colony personally to be and appear before me at the time and 
 place above written, then and there to do and execute all such things as shall 
 be given them in charge on behalf of our Sovereign Lady the Queen touching 
 the death of the above-named person, and for your so doing this is your 
 Warrant : and that you also attend at the time and place above mentioned to 
 make a return of those you shall so summon, and further to do and execute 
 such other matters as shall be then and there enjoined you. And have you 
 then and there this Warrant. 
 
 Given under my hand and seal this 27th day of October, in the year above 
 written. 
 
 James Russell, Coroner. 
 
 0.56. B 3 
 
14 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 Summon the following to form a panel : — 
 
 1 . P. Rose - - - Siemssen and Company. 
 
 2. J. Jack - - - Hong Kong Distillery Company. 
 
 3. Conrad H. Bluhm - Pustau and Company. 
 
 4. Robert F. Smith - Dock Company. 
 
 5. A. G. Aitken ■- - Dock Company. 
 
 6. W. S. Bamsey - - Gas Company. 
 
 C. V. Creagh, 
 Acting Captain Superintendent of Police. 
 
 Jury : — 
 
 John Jack - - - of East Point, Foreman. 
 
 R. F. Smith - - - of The Dock Company. 
 
 Conrad H. Bluhm - - of Messrs. Pustau and Company. 
 
 The manner of execution of this Warrant appears by the above schedules. 
 The answer of 
 
 Joseph White, Police Constable 42, 
 
 Summoning Officer. 
 
 In charge of the Case — Inspector M'Kie. 
 
 Information of Witnesses severally taken and acknowledged on behalf of our 
 Sovereign Lady The Queen, at the house known as the Government Civil Hos- 
 pital in Victoria in the said Colony, on the 27th day of October, in the year of 
 our Lord 1877, before J. Russell, Gentleman, Coroner for the said Colony, 
 touching the death of Ho-Tai-Yau, alias Mok-Tai-Yau, then and there lying 
 dead, as follows, to wit : — The Jury having been duly sworn, and having viewed 
 the body — 
 
 Lau-a-Yee, declared, states : — I live at 42, Peel-street. The deceased was 
 known to me. She was called Tai-Yau. I don't know what her surname - 
 was. She lived in the same house with me. She fell down the area witli 
 a woman called A-S6 on the morning of the 17th instant. I don't know what 
 age she was. I had not seen her from the time she came into hospital until 
 now. 
 
 Her 
 Lau- + a-Yee. 
 Mark. 
 
 Chan-a-Kung, declared, states : — I am employed by Achee & Co., the fur- 
 niture brokers. I have known the deceased for five or six years. Her name 
 was Mok-Tai-Yau. She lived at 42, Peel-street. She was a friend. She was 
 unmarried. She was 26 years of age. I want to bury the body. 
 
 Charles John Wharry, sworn, states: — 1 am Superintendent of this 
 hospital. The deceased was admitted to hospital on the morning of the 17th 
 instant, suffering from a fracture of the lower jaw, and one of the left thi^h, 
 and some internal contusions. From the effects of the latter she died this 
 morning. 
 
 C. J. Vi'harry, m.d. 
 
 The above informations duly taken and acknowledged, 
 
 J. Mussell, Coroner. 
 
 Adjourned till four o'clock on Monday, the 29th October, at the magistracy. 
 
 J. Russell, Coroner. 
 
CONTAGIOUS. DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 15 
 
 29th October, 
 
 Jurors answer their names at magistracy at four o'clock. No further 
 evidence. Verdict : — Misadventure, but with special finding. See Inquisition. 
 See also evidence in case of Fung-a^-Sz, alias A-Sau. Inquisition, No. 62, of 
 the 29th October. 
 
 J. Russell, Coroner. 
 
 An inquisition, indented, taken for our Sovereign Lady the Queen, at the 
 house knovm as the magistracy, situate in Victoria, in the Colony of Hong 
 Kong, on the 29th day of October, in the year of our Lord 1877/ before 
 James Russell, Esq., Gentleman, the Coroner of our said Lady The Oueen, 
 for the said Colony, on view of the body of Mok-Tai-Yau, then and there 
 lying dead, upon the oath of John Jack, Robert Fraser-Smith, Conrad 
 Hermann Bluhm, good and lawful men of the said Colony, duly chosen, 
 and who, being then and there duly sworn, and charged to inquire for our said 
 Lady the Queen, when, how, and by what means the said Mok-Tai-Yau came 
 to her death, do upon their oaths say that Mok-Tai-Yau, on the morning of 
 the 17th of October, in the year aforesaid, being on the roof of a house, known 
 as 44, Peel-street, Victoria, and having fled there in consequence of the entry 
 of an Inspector of Brothels into the house known as 42, Peel-street, where she 
 lived, accidentally and by misfortune fell down an open area, known as a 
 smoke-hole, unto the granite pavement beneath, and by means thereof did 
 receive mortal bruises, fractures and contusions, of which she died, on the 27th 
 October in the aforesaid year ; and so the jurors aforesaid, upon their oath 
 aforesaid, do say, that the said Mok-Tai-Yau aforesaid, accidentally, casually, 
 and by misfortune came to her death, and not otherwise. 
 
 The jury aforesaid are further of opinion that Inspector Lee, the aforesaid 
 Inspector of Brothels, exceeded his powers by entering the house, No. 42, 
 Peel-street, without a warrant, or any direct authority from the Registrar 
 General or the Superintendent of Police, and would strongly recommend 
 that the whole system of obtaining convictions against keepers of unlicensed 
 brothels be thoroughly revised, as the present practice is, in their opinion, both 
 illegal and immoral. 
 
 In witness whereof, the said Coroner as well as the jurors aforesaid, have 
 hereunto set and subscribed their hands and seals, on the year and day 
 first above written. 
 
 (l. s.) /. Russell, Coroner. 
 John Jack, Foreman. 
 H. Fraser-Smith. 
 C. H. Bluhm. 
 
 REPORT BY THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Preliminary. 
 
 In the conduct of this inquiry, the object we have kept in view has been to 
 place before your Excellency as complete a record as possible of the operation 
 of the Contagious Diseases Ordinances during the whole time they have been 
 in force. The details which we have had to consider consequently extend over 
 a long period of time, while they are in themselves, too often, revolting. But 
 we feel assured that the subject cannot be grasped as it ought to be in its 
 length and breadth without a knowledge of such details, and that, as a guide to 
 the future, too much importance cannot be attached to the lessons of the past. 
 
 No general principle touching the State control of prostitution for sanitary 
 purposes has been involved in this inquiry, nor manifestly, while such prin- 
 ciple is recognised by Imperial legislation, is it one which we could properly 
 
 deal with. 
 
 But it is altogether a mistake to suppose, as has been asserted, that Ordinance 10 
 of 18(37 is mainly founded on Imperial enactments. It differs from them in some 
 
 0.56. B4 most 
 
IS PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 for foreigneis are subject to compulsory medical examiaation, and consequently 
 far more despised by their countrymen and even by other prostitutes. But 
 this class of women is comparatively small. In all other respects the position 
 of a prostitute in Hong Kong is identically the same as that of all other 
 prostitutes in the Celestial Kingdom. 
 
 The differences vfhich exist between the situation of a Chinese prostitute m 
 Hong Kong and that of a common prostitute in Europe are as marked as the 
 differences which distinguish the social life of China and Europe. A 
 disregard of this essential distinction in the character and mode of prostitution 
 in Hong Kong and Europe must of necessity lead to grave errors in judging of 
 and legislatively dealing with piostitution as it is in Hong Kong. 
 
 Prostitutes in Europe are, as a general rule, fallen women, the victims of 
 seduction, or possibly of innate vice. Being the outcasts of society, and having 
 little, if any, prospect of being again admitted into decent and respectable 
 circles of life, deprived also of their own self-respect as well as the regards of 
 their relatives, occasionally even troubled with qualms of conscience, they mostly 
 dread thinking of their future, and seek oblivion in excesses of boisterous dissipa- 
 tion. The Chinese prostitutes of Hong Kong are an entirely different set of 
 people, differently constituted, under different influences, and in a different 
 position altogether. Very few of them can be called fallen women ; scarcely any 
 of them are the victims of seduction, according to the English sense of the term, 
 refined or unrefined. The great majority of them are owned by professional 
 brothel keepers or traders in women in Canton or Macao, have been brought up 
 for the profession, and trained in various accomplishments suited to brothel life, 
 and actually have breathed the atmosphere of brothels for years before attaining to 
 maturity. They frequently knowneither father nor mother, except what they call a 
 " pocket-mother," that is the woman who bought them from others, and they are 
 fully aware of the career which is before them. They feel of course that they are 
 the bought property of their pocket-mother or keeper, but they know also that this 
 istlie feeling of almost every woman in (."hina, liable as each is to be sold, by her 
 own parents or relatives, to be the wife or concubine of a man she never sets eyes 
 on before the wedding day, or liable, as the case may be, to be pledged or sold, by 
 her parents or relatives, to serve as a domestic slave in a strange family. 
 There is then no shame in being sold, for is it not the lot of almost all women 
 in China ? Those girls who are brought up to the trade of prostitution from 
 infancy do not therefore consider themselves "unfortunates." They have the 
 chance, if they are pretty and accomplished, of being wooed like any virtuous 
 girl in Europe, a chance which few other girls in China ever enjoy, and they 
 may look forward, with tolerable certainty, to being made the second, or third, 
 or fourth, or at any rate the favourite wife of some wealthy g^entleman. If not 
 possessed of special attractions for wealthy lovers, they look forward to being 
 taken out of the brothel by an honest devoted man to share the lot of a poor 
 man's wife. Or they may endeavour to save money by singing, music, and 
 prostitution combined, and not only to purchase their freedom, but to set up for 
 themselves, buying, rearing, and selUng girls to act as servants, or concubines, 
 or prostitutes, or they may finally cnme to keep brothels as managers for 
 weahhy capitalists or speculators. There is further a certain proportion of 
 Chmese prostitutes in Hong Kong, who have, by the hand of their own parents' 
 or husbands, been mortgaged or sold into temporary servitude as prostitutes or 
 who of their own free will and accord act as prostitutes under personal agree- 
 ment with a brothel-keeper, for a definite advance of a sum of money, required 
 to rescue the family, or some member of it, from some great calamity or per- 
 manent rum. Such prostitutes rather look upon themselves as heroines, and 
 alter havmg earned the money required by the terms of the contract entered 
 into, they either return into the bosom of their famiUes, or continue the profes- 
 sion ot a prostitute in one way or other. 
 
 There is, however, one class of women in Hong Kong who can scarcely be 
 called prostitutes, and who have no parallel either in China, outside the Treaty 
 Ports, or in Europe. They are generally called " protected women." They 
 may originally have come forth from one or other of the above-mentioned 
 classes of prostitutes, or, being the offspring of protected women, may have been 
 brought up from infancy with the notion that it is a far better lot in life to be 
 the kept woman of a foreigner than the married wife of a Chinaman. These 
 protected women occupy a position different alike from the acknowledged 
 concubines of Chinese and ^ from the mistress of a man Uving in Europe. The 
 
 concubine 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 19 
 
 concubine of a Chinaman is virtually his wife, or at least one of his wives, being 
 married to him with certain slight formalities and becoming a member of his 
 household, subject, as the case may be, to the control of the first or favourite 
 wife. But the children of a concubine are legitimate, Confucius himself having 
 been born of a concubine, and if she happens to have children, especially sons, 
 her position is perfectly secure. Should she, hovfever, have no children she is 
 liable to be cast adrift or sold at anytime. The situation of a "protected 
 woman " is entirely different ; she resides in a house rented by her protector, 
 who lives generally in another part of the town, she receives a fixed salaiy from 
 her protector, and sublets every available room to individual sly prostitutes, or 
 to women keeping a sly brothel, no visitor being admitted unless he have some 
 introduction or secret pass-words. If an inspector of brothels attempts to enter, 
 he is quietly informed that this house is not a brothel, but the private family 
 residence of Mr. So-and-So. 
 
 This practice, together with the fact that the protected woman lives with her 
 protector not for love, but simply for a stipulated sum payable monthly, coupled 
 with the understanding that the offspring of such a liaison are not recognised 
 by the father beyond making such allowance or settlement for the children's 
 maintenance and education as his means may afford, distinguishes the protecied 
 wonien of Hong Kong (and the Treaty Ports) from^ the kept mistress of a gen- 
 tleman in Europe. 
 
 These protected women are, as a general rule, a happy, contented, and 
 remarkably quiet sort of people, specially noted for their devotion to uUthe rites 
 and ceremonies of popular Buddhism and Tauism. They consider themselves 
 infinitely above a common prostitute, and congratulate themselves that they are 
 far better off, and far better treated by their foreign protectors, than the legiti- 
 mate first wife of a well-to-do Chinaman is treated by her husband or her 
 mother-in-law. 
 
 But this system of " protected women " having, as is almost invariably the 
 case, under their own protection sly brothels, the doors of which are absolutely 
 sealed against the intrusion of officers entrusted with the working of the Con- 
 tagious Diseases Ordinance, forms one of the greatest difiiculties in dealing 
 with the social evil of Hong Kong. For this .system makes the suppression of 
 sly brothels an impossibility. 
 
 The principal points of difference between the various classes of Chinese 
 urostitutes of Hong Kong and the prostitutes of Europe amount therefore to 
 .this, that Chinese prostitution is essentially a bargain for money and based on 
 a national system of female slavery ; whilst European prostitution is more or 
 less a matter of passion, based on the national respect for the liberty of the 
 subject ; and further, that these Chinese prostitutes of Hong Kong are, as a 
 whole, an extremely quiet, orderly, and well-behaved sort of people, not given 
 lo intemperance or excess ; in one woi'd, that they are not " abandoned women " 
 as the prostitutes of Europe only too frequently are. On the other hand, it is 
 self-evident from the above, that among women like the prostitutes of Hong 
 Kong any attempt at reclamation proves, under ordinary circumstances, a far 
 more hopeless task than the work of rescuing fallen women has proved in 
 
 Europe. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, from what is said above, that the Chinese, 
 as a people, view prostitution as a matter of moral indifference. On the con- 
 traiy, the literature, the reUgions, the laws and the pubhc opinion of China, all join 
 in condemning prostitution as immoral, and in co-operating to keep prostitution 
 under a certain check. The literature of the Confucianists, which, as regards 
 purity and utter absence of immoral suggestions, stands unrivalled by any other 
 nation in the world, does not countenance prostitution in any form. The reli- 
 gions of China, Tauism, and Buddhism unite in holding up before the people 
 the ideal of absolute celibacy. The laws and public opinion put certain penalties 
 on prostitutes, and agree in keeping prostitution rigidly out of sight. Although 
 the Chinese are a Pagan nation, they have no deification of vice in their temples, 
 no indecent shows in their theatres, no orgies iu their houses of public enter- 
 tainment, no parading of lewd women in the public streets. The brothels are 
 confined to the back slums of towns, and a man may even pass a street of brothels 
 without noticing anything offensive. In short, as far as outward and public 
 observation'goes, China presents a more virtuous appearance than most Euro- 
 pean countries^ 
 
 0.56. c 2 Nevertheless, 
 
20 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 Nevertheless, high as the moral standard undoubtedly is among the Chinese, 
 the practice of morality is very low, and prostitution is very rife, because ttiere 
 are natural causes at work which almost necessitate prostitution, bucti are, tor 
 instance, the excessive over-population of the large cities, the national system 
 of polygamy rampant all over the Empire, legalizing concubinage as far as the 
 offspring of concubines are concerned, but leaving a childless concubine liable 
 to be sold or sent adrift at any moment, the law of inheritance neglecting 
 daughters in fa\our of sons, the universal practice of buying and selling females 
 combined with the system of domestic slavery. There is no organic tendency 
 in the Chinese to practical violation of their own moral theories and ideals, but 
 the CO- existence of over-population, with a social and domestic life based on 
 polygamy and female slavery, must of necessity be a perennial source of immo- 
 rality and prostitution, against which mere prohibitive legislation must be 
 utterly powerless. . , 
 
 This intermixture of female slavery with prostitution has been noticed m 
 Hong Kong at the very time when the Legislature first attempted to deal with 
 Chinese prostitution, but it was found practically impossible to grapple with this 
 fountain source of the social evil of Hong Kong. The will was not wanting to 
 repress the system of buying and selling women for purposes of prostitution, 
 but it proved next to impossible to do more than punish the most glaring 
 excesses which now and then happened to come to the surface. Even in those 
 rare cases when a prostitute was driven to seek refuge from barbarous iU treat- 
 ment by appealing to the police for protection, no witnesses could be obtained, 
 as a rule, to prove her case, and setting the woman at hberty, which is about all 
 the Government could do, was but handing her over to the servitude of some 
 one else. 
 
 As to polygamy, that other fruitful cause of prostitution, the Legislature of 
 Hong Kong has never yet attempted to deal with it, as far as non-Christian 
 Chinese are concerned. 
 
 The rationale of all this is, that the Chinese population of Hong Kong, 
 although nominally separate from the people of China, and politically under 
 British rule and influence, form practically one living social organism with the 
 population of the adjoining provinces of China. As long as polygamy and female 
 slavery form the very life blood of the social organism on the mainland of 
 China, it will be in vain to try and suppress these evils among the Chinese 
 population of Hong Kong by any legislative enactments. The same is the case 
 with prostitution and its natural concomitant, contagious diseases. The Govern- 
 ment of Hong Kong is not to blame for its failure to stamp out contagious 
 disease, nor even for its failure to eradicate the system of buying and selling 
 women for purposes of prostitution. It was a wise recognition of the natural 
 laws at work in this mass of corruption, called prostitution, when the Govern- 
 ment of Hong Kong confined the application of the principal provisions of the 
 Contagious Diseases Ordinance, viz., compulsory medical examination, to the 
 licensed prostitutes in houses for foreigners only, and exempted from the same 
 law the great mass of prostitutes for Chinese. 
 
 Even this, strictly speaking, illegal division which was made in Hong Kong 
 between brothels licensed for foreigners only, and brothels licensed for Chinese 
 only, was forced upon the officers entrusted with the carrying out of the pro- 
 visions of the Contagious Diseases Ordinance by the irresistible nature of the 
 circumstances. For this division was but the natjiral reflex of the social gulf 
 which to the present day practically separates all classes of Chinese in Hong 
 Kong from the corresponding classes of foreign residents, a gulf which remains 
 unbridged by a mutual sullen consent. These two divisions of brothels form, 
 each in its respective sphere, a tolerably clear mirror of the gradations of social 
 life in Hong Kong. 
 
 The Chinese community of Hong Kong practically divides itself into three 
 classes ; the wealthy, the well-to-do, the poor. For each of these classes there 
 is a corresponding class of brothels. The hiohest of these three classes of 
 brothels is more like a private hotel than a brothel. It partly serves to supply 
 the want of female society which domestic life based on polygamy cannot 
 possibly supply; and it answers also at the same time the purposes of a market 
 where wealthy polygamists obtain their concubines. This class of brothels 
 would seem to be absolutely free from disease, and calls no more for police 
 surveillance nor for medical inspection than any private family residence iu 
 
 Hong 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 2i 
 
 Hong Kong. The other two classes of brothels have nothing remarkable about 
 them. None of these brothels for Chinese have ever been subjected to com- 
 pulsory medical examination of their inmates, for the simple reason that every 
 one of these brothels won Id at once be closed if any such attempt were made, 
 and the inmates would only go to swell the sly brothels. Nevertheless, these 
 Chinese brothels, though untouched by the system of compulsory medication, 
 do not seem to be h'arbouring more contagious disease than the licensed brothels 
 for foreigners which are under medical inspection. At any rate the state of 
 the disease in these brothels does not call for any interference on the part 
 of the Legislature. 
 
 As regards the brothels licensed for foreigners only, it seems strange, at first 
 sight, that all the evidence goes to show that the inmates of brothels licensed 
 for the use of foreigners, are, on the average, a decidedly inferior class of 
 women, the refuse in fact of the brothels licensed for Chinese, unless recruited 
 through the Lock Hospital from the sly brothels. The explanation lies in this, 
 that the highest class of foreign residents here are not brothel-goers, as almost 
 all wealthy Chinamen in the Colony at present seem to be, the female society 
 which wealthy Chinamen, owing to polygamy, have to seek in brothels being 
 supplied for foreigners in the polite intercourse European society sanctions in 
 public and in respectable families. It is further to be considered also, that the 
 system of "protected women," and the brothels kept by foreign prostitutes, 
 tend to keep the upper and middle classes of foreign residents of Hong Kong 
 out of the Chinese brothels licensed for foreigners. Consequently these 
 brothels for foreigners are resorted to chiefly by the lowest class of Hong Kong 
 residents, principally soldiers, and form the chief resort of the seafaring popu- 
 lation passing through the Colony. These brothels, therefore, shade down in 
 regular gradation from houses which will not admit any but officers, to brothels 
 for coloured men, and the lowest dens patropised by the privates of the 
 infantry. Each of the inmates of these brothels appears to have been, more or 
 less frequently, a resident in the Lock Hospital, and in most cases, when men 
 complained of infection, the disease appears to have been contracted in those 
 brothels licensed for foreigners only, and subject to regular medical examination. 
 But the rise and fall of the disease in these brothels is evidently far more 
 influenced by the dulness or briskness of the patronage bestowed upon these 
 brothels by the fluctuating seafaring population, and especially by the frequency 
 of arrivals of numerous large men-of-war bringing disease into the Colony 
 from Japan or ports of China, than by any legislative measures or medical 
 examinations. 
 
 There is yet a class of prostitutes, which has been left out of consideration in 
 the foregoing remarks, because they are an extremely mixed class. These are 
 the prostitutes carrying on their trade in the harbour, acting as agents of 
 washermen or as boatwomen, being recruited from all the lower classes of 
 brothels in the Colony, licensed and unlicensed. The Government has never 
 been able to bring this kind of prostitution under the surveillance of the police 
 or the medical authorities. 
 
 Institution of the Brothels Ordinances. 
 
 Legislation built very much on the lines subsequently followed by Ordinance 
 10 of 1867, was first applied to the subject of prostitution in this Colony more 
 than twenty years ago. There are certain differences between the Ordinance 
 then passed, and the one now in force, which we shall presently consider. But 
 the two main principles then adopted prevail to the present day, and may be 
 thus summarised : — 
 
 1, The legalisation of houses of ill-fame in consideration of fees paid to 
 the Government. 
 
 2. The medical examination of the persons of prostitutes, and their 
 segregation in a Lock Hospital for treatment when found diseased. 
 
 The most important documents relating to the institution of this measure, 
 which was entitled " An Ordinance for checking the Spread of Venereal Dis- 
 eases," and came into operation early in the year 1858, will be found in the 
 Appendix (pages 204 to 209 inclusive). 
 
 We shall have occasion to refer to these papers carefully when we come to 
 0.56. c 3 consider 
 
22 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 consider the medical results of the Ordinances. At present it is only 
 necessary to notice one curious but most important error into which the 
 originators of this Legislature fell, which has had a material bearing upon the 
 whole matter to the present day. ' 
 
 We allude to the opinion expressed by Dr. Bridges, the Acting Attorney 
 General, who expressed himself in the following language : " In conclusion I 
 " beg leave to state that there will be less difficulty in dealing with prostitution 
 "' in this Colony than with the same in any other part of the world, as I believe 
 " the prostitutes here to be almost without exception, Chinese who would be 
 " thankful to be placed under medical control of any kind ; that few if any of the 
 *' prostitutes are free agents, having been brought up for the purposes of prosti- 
 " tution by the keepers of brothels, and that whether as regards the unfortunate 
 " creatures themselves, the persons who obtain a living by these prostitutions, 
 " or the Chinese inhabitants in general, there are fewer rights to be interfered 
 " with here, less grounds for complaint by the parties controlled, and fewer 
 " prejudices on the subject to be shocked among the more respectable part 
 " of the community than could be found elsewhere." (Document No. 2^ 
 page 204.) 
 
 This opinion was subsequently confirmed by the high authority of the late 
 Mr. D. R. Caldwell (Document No. 14, p. 209), but the views which had never 
 been elicited of the Chinese community, who were the persons principally con- 
 cerned, proved to be so entirely opjiosed to this theory, that immediately after 
 the Ordinance came into operation, registered brothels were divided into two, 
 classes, one for the use of the Chinese only, and one for foreigners only (the 
 former outnumbering the latter by 4 to 1), and so great has been the detesta- 
 tion of the Chinese of the system of personal examination, that it has been 
 found practically impossible to apply it to purely Chinese houses of ill-fame 
 down to tiie present day. 
 
 Turning now to the Ordinance itself, we, in the first place, notice that, follow- 
 ing the wise and hunnane advice of Mr. Labouchere, at that time Her 
 Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies (Document No. 10, 
 pp. 207-&), its penal provisions were directed against the keepers of brothels 
 and not against their inmates. The latter whjen in registered brothels were 
 made subject to medical examination and treatment in the Lock Hospital upon 
 being found diseased, but when in unlicensed houses they were left free from 
 molestation, except in so far as they were liable to prosecution for infecting men 
 with venereal disease. Punishment by fine or imprisonment was reserved alone 
 for the keepers of ilhcit establishments. 
 
 We also note that the administration of justice was left in its ordinary 
 channel ; that the method provided for bringing offenders before the Court was 
 that sanctioned by Ordinance 10 of 1844, viz., by summons or by warrant upon 
 information, and that out-door prostitution was not interfered with. The 
 localities of brothels were limited to certain specified districts, and the common 
 law right to prosecute " any brothel whatever" as a nuisance was reserved to 
 any person aggrieved. The general working of the Ordinance was entrusted 
 to the Registrar General, who was armed with very considerable powers 
 among others that of declaring houses to be unregistered brothels It was 
 obviously intended that in the performance of these duties he should be 
 assisted by the general body of police ; but insuperable obstacles existed to this 
 course being followed. (Document No. 16, p. 211.) 
 
 The object of the Ordinance, as declared by its Preamble, was strictly limited 
 to making^" provisions for checking the spread of venereal diseases within this 
 Colony, but houses solely for the use of Chinese did not cease to be registered 
 nor did revenue cease to be derived from them when it became clear that th^ 
 pmtary clauses of the enactment could never be applied to them. Thus bv 
 indirect means, never apparently contemplated by the Legislature, was Govern- 
 ment supervision or control, independent of sanitary reasons, established over a 
 very considerable portion of the prostitution of the place 
 
 This Ordinance seems to have been worked with energy by all concerned 
 Dr^ Murray who assumed charge of the Lock Hospital on the 1st M^y 1857 
 and who, as he said m his annual report for that year, ^'had no hesitation in 
 stating that If honestly worked he bdieved the oJ^iin;nce to be equtuTthe 
 -almost perfect abolition of the primary venereal disease of thrColonv" 
 discharged the duties of his office with undoubted zeal. ^' 
 
 The 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDmANCE, HONG KONG. 23 
 
 The magistrates certainly threw no obstruction in the way of the working of 
 the Ordinance ; and the Government having, at a very early stage, determined 
 that its efficacy "should have a fair trial" (Documient No. 17, p. 211), it 
 doubtless received it at all hands. The Ordinance, nevertheless, seems to have all 
 along led a sort of crippled existence, and towards the end of 1866, Sir Richard 
 Graves MacDonnell determined upon its repeal and the substitution of another 
 measure in its place ; not only according to this high authority had the old 
 law failed, but it had been a source of "injustice, lying, and corruption." 
 (Document No. 28, p. 222.) 
 
 Institution OF Ordinance 10 of 1867. 
 
 A great deal of knowledge had been acquired during the 10 years the old law 
 had been in force of the feelings of the Chinese with respect to the personal 
 examination of prostitutes and of the' dread which the women entertained of the 
 operation. It was clearly enough seen that these formed the chief causes of the 
 paralysis of the old system, and it was therefore resolved that the new legisla- 
 tion should inaugurate a more vigorous policy of coercion. 
 
 The key note' of the new regime was struck by the Governor's first minute 
 on the subject, dated 20th October 1866 (Document 20, p. 214), in which he 
 wrote that he was " anxious early to introduce to the Council an amended 
 *' Brothel Ordinance, conferring wece5san7y almost despotic powers on the Regis- 
 " trar General, modified, when necessary, by bye-laws to be passed by the. 
 " Governor in Council ;" and the Ordinance which eventually passed the Legisla- 
 ture certainly fell but little short of his Excellency's intentions. The most 
 important papers connected with the introduction of the Ordinance* are appended; 
 (pp. 214 to 225 inclusive), and will repay perusal. To some of them we shall 
 have hereafter to refer, and we only pause here to notice one, viz., the very 
 important memorandum of the Attorney General, Mr. (now Sir Julian) Paunce- 
 fote, in which he urges the most weighty objections to the policy of " subjecting' 
 " persons to fine and imprisonment without the safeguards which surround the 
 " administration of justice in a public and open court." (Document 27, p. 
 221). We cannot but regret that theSe objections were not allowed to prevail. 
 
 The new Ordinance passed the Council on the 23rd July 1867, and the most 
 material changes in the law which it introduced- were as follows: — 
 
 *&^ 
 
 1 . It departed from the principle laid down by Mr. Laboucheie and 
 adopted in the original Ordinance, in that it subjected the inmates, as well 
 as the keeper of unlicensed houses, to fine and imprisonment on being 
 convicted of residing in, frequenting, or being found in such houses fort 
 the purposes of prostitution. (Section XXVI.) ; and it made liable all 
 women proved to be " common prostitutes " to medical examination 
 and detention in the Lock Hospital for treatment. (Sections XLVI. 
 et seq.) 
 
 2. It conferred upon the Registrar General and Superintendent of 
 Police and upon persons authorised by them in that behalf, the power of 
 breaking and entering any house suspected of being an unlicensed brothel 
 and arresting the keeper thereof without warrant. (Section XX.) 
 
 3. It conferred on the Registrar General judicial in addition to the execu- 
 tive powers he exercised. 
 
 4. It rendered all outdoor prostitutes, whethei in the streets, harbour, 
 or elsewhere, hable to punishment by fine and imprisonment and to arrest 
 without warrant. 
 
 5. For the districts fixed by the earlier Ordinance as the locaUties of 
 registered brothels, it substituted localities to be appointed by the Governor 
 in Council. 
 
 For the rest, the new law followed in great measure the lines of the old, the 
 word "licensed" being, however, substituted for the word "registered," and 
 there being a few other changes which for the purposes of this inquiry are either 
 immaterial or are hereafter referred to under special headings. 
 
 It is important to notice that the object of the Ordinance was still limited, 
 as in the case of the repealed law to the prevention of " the spreading of certain, 
 contagious diseases,'-' and that no distinction established between brothels, for 
 
 0.56. c 4 Chinese 
 
24 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 Chinese only and those reserved for foreigners was recognised by the Legis- 
 
 In 1876, by Ordinance 2 of that year, the judicial functions of the Registrar 
 General were again transferred to the pohce magistrates, who, however, were 
 authorised to hear cases arising under 10 of 1867 in private. The powers or 
 the Registrar General to order common prostitutes for periodical medical 
 examinations and subsequent detention in hospital were still reserved to that 
 
 officer. 
 
 Such is the state of the law as it at present exists. 
 
 Prosecutions of Unlicensed Brothels. 
 
 The course of this investigation now requires that we should analyse some- 
 what in detail the prosecutions of illicit houses under the two Brothel 
 Ordinances, and we accordingly propose to deal with them year by year. 
 
 1858.— In 1858 there would not appear to have been any such cases. 
 
 1859.— In 1859, 21 prosecutions in all were instituted under Ordinance 12 
 of 1857, and, of these, five were directed against persons for keeping un- 
 registered houses or brothels outside the allotted districts. Four of the cases 
 ended in convictions, and one in acquittal. In one case the evidence was not 
 recorded. In two instances the "declaration" of the Registrar General was 
 accepted as sufficient proof of the character of the houses. In another, the 
 Registrar General's evidence was corroborated by that of a policeman ; and 
 lastly, a conviction was obtained on the evidence of two Malay policemen, who 
 apparently volunteered it. 
 
 In three instances fines of 25 dollars were inflicted, and in the fourth, im- 
 prisonment' in gaol or hospital for one month. 
 
 The acquittal was obtained on proof that the defendant was under the pro- 
 tection of certain Malays. 
 
 In addition to these ofiicial prosecutions, five persons were fined for keeping 
 disorderly houses in the Hollywood-road, on the complaint of an American 
 missionary. 
 
 1860. — In 1860 the prosecutions had risen in number to 91, and of these, II 
 were directed against the keepers of unregistered brothels. 
 
 Six of the cases resulted in convictions, two in acquittal (the charges being 
 manifestly false), and three in the prosecution being withdrawn. 
 
 In this year the services of informers were first resorted to, the plan being 
 adopted almost immediately upon the first Inspector of Brothels (Mr. Syney ?) 
 coming into ofiice. An English policeman, named Barnes, is the first man who 
 figures in that capacity, and it is noteworthy that two charges dependent on his 
 evidence were brought forward on the same day (1 1th July), and that the first 
 resulted in a conviction and a fine on the defendant of 25 dollars, and the 
 second in an acquittal manifestly on the ground that the charge was 
 trumped up. 
 
 On the 1st November, Inspector Williams, who had just succeeded Syney, 
 acted as detective, and secured a conviction, and on the 11th December, 
 Inspector Peam, who had succeeded Williams, employed police constables as 
 informers, and lent them money for the purpose. 
 
 It is important to notice that in all these instances both inspectors and con- 
 stables performed their duties in '• plain clothes," and as will be seen, this 
 plan has always been followed where these ofiicers have undertaken the work of 
 detectives. 
 
 1861.— The year 1861 produced 91 prosecutions, out of which 19 were 
 directed against the keepers of unregistered brothels, and all of them being 
 dependent on evidence obtained for the purpose of supporting the charges ; the 
 inspectors (who appear to have been changed more than once) sometimes going 
 alone to the houses themselves as detectives, sometimes accompanied by Euro- 
 pean constables, and sometimes sending constables to act as informers. Eleven 
 resulted in convictions of the defendant, seven in acquittal, and one in a with- 
 drawal of the charge. The punishments inflicted were fines varying between 
 50 dollars and 25 dollars in amount. 
 
 In another instance, the Acting Registrar General (Mr. Turner) personally 
 
 acted 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 25 
 
 acted as detective, and took to the house with him a European constable, who 
 had sexual connexion with a woman. 
 
 This is the first case where actual coition by an informer is recorded. 
 
 In case 4890, the Inspector of Brothels (Johnson) presented to a woman a 
 counterfeit dollar, and for accepting it, in spite of a plea of protection, she was 
 fined 25 dollars. 
 
 1862. — In this year there were 85 prosecutions, of which 20 were directed 
 against keepers of unregistered brothels, all of them save one, in which certain 
 Malay seamen gave evidence as to their frequenting the house, being dependent 
 on evidence obtained for the purpose of supporting the charge. Eighteen of 
 these cases resulted in convictions, and two only in acquittal. 
 
 European constables in plain clothes acted as informers on eleven, and a 
 master of a ship on two occasions. Other European informers also were 
 employed, the informers being generally accompanied by the Inspector of 
 Brothels in person. In this year we notice one very remarkable case (No. 
 2946, Appendix, p. 57), where the Inspector of Brothels, a policeman, and the 
 Bailiff of the Supreme Court, to the last of whom the defendant " had given a 
 diamond ring," acted as informers or detectives. The woman pleaded that she 
 was under protection ; she was however fined. 
 
 1863. — The prosecutions in this year fell in number to 28, of which, however, 
 12 were directed against the keepers of unregistered houses, 10 of them being 
 dependent on evidence obtained for the purpose of supporting the charge, and 
 one on the sworn belief of the Inspector alone, which the Magistrate, however, 
 held sufficient to base a conviction upon. There were nine convictions, and 
 •four acquittals, two defendants having been charged together. The punishments 
 were in eight cases fines varying from 50 dollars to 20 dollars, and in one 
 instance three months' imprisonment. European constables appeared as 
 informers eight times, and an Indian constable once. Private soldiers of the 
 99th regiment would appear to have acted in the same capacity three times. 
 Two of the constables were employed on two or three occasions each. In this 
 year, for the first time, defendants called in the aid of legal assistance, two 
 defences out of three being sucessful. The houses implicated were situated in 
 Lyndhurst Terrace (on two occasions), Graham-street (on three occasions), 
 Gutzlaff-street, Pottinger-street, and Wellington -street (No. 81 on two 
 occasions). 
 
 1864. — In 1864, there were 24 prosecutions, of which 16 were directed against 
 the keepers of unregistered brothels, all of them being dependent on evidence 
 obtained for the purpose of supporting the charge ; there were 13 convictions 
 and two acquittals, and fines were inflicted varying from 100 dollars to 10 dollars 
 in amount. European constables acted as informers in plain clothes. Police 
 Sergeant Daly being four times employed in this capacity and Indian constables 
 on six occasions. A constable in uniform having been reported by a woman 
 informed against her. In the remaining cases the testimony of European 
 seamen was obtained. In was in this year, so far as the official records before 
 us show, that public money was first spent by informers in detecting unregistered 
 brothels, the Inspector of Brothels Jones and Police Sergeant Daly having 
 spent 10 dollars in obtaining the conviction of a house in Peel-street (^Case No. 
 1736, 2lst April), which were reimbursed them. 
 
 1865.— In 1865, 23 prosecutions were institued, 22 of them being directed 
 against the keepers of unregistered brothels. Of these, 1 1 were dependent on 
 evidence obtained for the purpose of supporting the cliarge. Four times 
 proceedings were taken, twice successfully and twice unsuccessfully, on inde- 
 pendent testimony apparently volunteered. On three occasions, the Acting 
 Registrar General, Mr. Deane, "declared" houses, nine in number, in 
 Wellington- street to be unregistered houses, and seven of them were ordered to 
 be closed; and once the Inspector of Brothels gave evidence unsuccessfully 
 against the character of a house. European constables acted as informers in 
 eight instances, a policeman named Arch being alone employed six times, and 
 two men (Cousens and Clarke) twice. Indian constables were also employed, 
 and once an informer who had been casually obtained. 
 
 Fourteen cases including the three dependent on Mr. Deane's " declaration " 
 0.56. D resulted 
 
20 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 resulted in convictions, six in acquittals, and two in the charge being withdrawn. 
 Fines were inflicted varying from 50 dollars to 25 dollars in amount. 
 
 It is noticeable that five convictions were obtained on the evidence of the 
 witness Arch, but that on the sixth and last occasion when he appeared, the 
 defendant being represented by counsel, the case (No. 2931, Appendix, p. 64), 
 which was a very singular one, was dismissed. We also call attention to case 
 No. 1676, as a typical one shewing the license which some of these informers 
 were permitted to exercise apparently unchecked or unreproved, and to the 
 evidence in Nos. 4276 and 4277 as to the houses being frequented by soldiers. 
 
 In this year for the first time a conviction was obtained upon the evidence 
 of Chinese witnesses (case No. 2206), who however do not appear to have been 
 employed as informers, but would seem to have been frequenters and neighbours 
 of the brothels. 
 
 1866. — During 1866, the prosecutions fell in number to six, three of them 
 being directed against the keepers of unregistered houses. During this year, 
 for the first time so far as the records show, Chinese informers were used. The 
 case itself (No. 2 1 56) is remarkable as inaugurating a system regularly pursued 
 for some years afterwards and as a type of a large class where the men who gave 
 evidence against the women were acquainted with them before. 
 
 An Indian police constable trumped up a false charge which was dismissed ; 
 and Inspector Jones successfully maintained a prosecution against three women 
 upon his own uncorroborated evidence, the defendants, notwithstanding their 
 absence from Court, being fined 100 dollars each, or in default of payment 
 sentenced to three months' imprisonment. 
 
 1867. — In this year, 35 brothel prosecutions were instituted, 27 of them being 
 directed against the keepers of unregistered houses. There were 26 convictions 
 and one acquittal, and the defendants were fined in amounts varying from 100 
 dollars to 25 dollars. 
 
 In 24 instances the defendants were tried on evidence obtained for the 
 purpose of supporting the charge. European police constables were the 
 informers in four or five cases (in one case the nationality of the constable is 
 not disclosed by the evidence). P. C. Arch, whose evidence had been dis- 
 credited in 1865, and P. C. Collins being again employed twice. 
 
 Indians, Malays, and Chinese were also used freely as informers, the first two 
 on three occasions, and the last for the remaining 24 cases. 
 
 One conviction (3094) was obtained upon the evidence of a man infected 
 vdth disease in the house imphcated ; another (2093) on the evidence of 
 neighbours' of the brothel (20 dollars being allotted out of the fine of 100 
 dollars imposed, to the Inspector of Brothels, Petersen), and once (3663) no 
 evidence was recorded. 
 
 The Chinese used for this work were chiefly Lokongs, Inspector Petersen's 
 servant (Lum-a-Suey), and the cook at No. 8 Pohce Station. The depositions 
 show that in at least five cases the pohce and other informers received rewards. 
 Three times their exertions were remunerated by sums of 20 dollars' 
 although in one of these instances the evidence was apparently volunteered 
 (No. 2093), Arch and Colhns once got five dollars each (No. 2498), and Chinese 
 constables received similar amounts (No. 5038). 
 
 In at least four instances there is clear evidence on the depositions of the 
 informers employed (Chinese) having had connexion with women in the houses 
 imphcated, and in many other cases the records leave it uncertain whether 
 connexion had been enjoyed or not. 
 
 One investigation during this year had sufficiently curious results to deserve 
 a passmg notice, the magistrate having punished one Ho-a-Choi who did not 
 appear as a witness at all, and the defendant herself with seven days' imprison- 
 ment for making " false statements" (No. 2500, Appendix p 72) 
 
 It IS not out of place to add here that a woman during' this year was con 
 victed and sentenced to three months' imprisonment for infecting a man with 
 disease man unregistered brothel in Peel-street, so that in all there were 28 
 cases m which such houses were concerned. 
 
 1868.-UP to the 26th March in this year, when the last ease appears to 
 have been tned under Ordmance 12 of 1867, seven prosecutions had been 
 instituted, s.x of which had been directed against the keepers of unregistered 
 
 houses. 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 27 
 
 houses. Of these, five resulted in convictions and one in acquittal, the defend- 
 ants being sentenced to fines varying in amount from 50 dollars to 25 dollais, 
 and in one instance to imprisonment for three months' with hard labour. 
 
 In all but one case, where a soldier who had been diseased in one of these 
 houses gave evidence, the convictions were obtained on evidence procured to 
 support the charge ; the informers being Chinese constables and principally 
 Lum-a-Suey, Lokong No. 46, and Chun-a-Yut, Lokong, No. 9. 
 
 On the 8th April in this year. Ordinance 10 of 1867 w^as proclaimed : but 
 before entering upon an examination of the records of the cases tried under it, 
 we pause to note down one or two observations which seem properly to have 
 their place here. 
 
 First of all we would point out that although the new Ordinance conferred, 
 and still confers, such extensive and unusual powers on the Registrar General 
 and Superintendent of Police as to breaking and entering houses and arresting 
 the keepers vfithout warrant, no serious difficulty whatever, so far as the 
 records show, and we have paid special attention to the point, seems to have 
 been experienced under the previous enactment in bringing the keepers of such 
 houses before the court. In the great majority of cases the defendants seldom 
 failed to appear to the summons, and only in one instance can we find that the 
 ser\dce of a warrant was evaded, and even then the magistrates proceeded in the 
 absence of the defendants (case No. 1865). 
 
 Nor can we in the second place find among the foregoing records proof of 
 the necessity of the transfer to the Registrar General of the judicial powers, 
 since partly re -transferred to the magistrates and partly retained by that officer, 
 under Sections XLIV. and XLV. of 10 of 1867. Asa matter of fact witnesses 
 do not seem to have been at all squeamish in divulging repulsive details in open 
 Court, nor, on the other hand, do the magistrates ever seem to have shown too 
 exacting a disposition as to the nature or amount of the evidence they required 
 to sustain convictions ; and the astonishing system of detection which had 
 grown up had ijiet, so far as we can see, with neither discouragement nor 
 remonstrance. 
 
 The zeal of Inspectors of Brothels and informers had been stimulated by 
 occasional solid rewards from the Bench, and the numerous prosecutions com- 
 menced seldom failed to end in conviction and substantial punishment. 
 
 Prosecutions under Ordinance 10 of 1867. 
 
 1868. — In 1868, there were instituted before the Registrar General 63 pro- 
 secutions, of which 42 were directed agaiVist the keepers and inmates of 
 unlicensed brothels, and seven against women for out-door prostitution in town 
 and harbour. 
 
 There were, in the first-mentioned class of cases, 151 defendants, of whom it 
 may be fairly computed that somewhat over 100 were inmates, and the 
 remainder keepers of brothels. Of these, 113 were convicted, four were 
 remanded till security was given, and two remanded *me die; the remainder 
 were discharged. 
 
 Of the "out-door prostitutes" tried, 12 were charged for prostitution in the 
 harbour and convicted, and eight were arraigned for prostitution in different 
 parts of the town, seven of whom were convicted and one discharged. There 
 was also one charge of infidelity in an assault by a kept mistress in which a 
 conviction was obtained and a fine inflicted of 15 dollars. 
 
 The services of Chinese informers, were called into requisition 22 times, 
 Lokongs, probably attached to the Registrar General's office, being employed 
 on several occasions. Li-a-Him and Ip-a-Tim, boat boys belonging to the 
 Inspector's boat, and a tailor, being emplo3^ed on several occasions. Lokong 
 No. 9, Chan-a-Yutj was mixed up as an informer with no less than six cases 
 (and in one curious case, No. 3, as a witness), and Chan-a-Yau, a boat boy, 
 also appeared in the same capacity six times. It may be noted here as a sig- 
 nificant fact that the last case in which Chan-a-Yut was so employed in 1868 
 broke down as a false case, and one of the witnesses, Lokong No. 39, was fined. 
 5 dollars for perjury. Inspectors Petersen and Jamieson visited unlicensed houses 
 in plain clothes as informers together once, Jamieson went in plain clothes twice, 
 and disguised himself in the uniform of a private soldier with the same object. 
 On 1;wo occasions he and Inspector Burns acted as detectives, and two European 
 constables, Sieir and Deane, were employed as informers twice. 
 
 0.56. D 2 Sometimes 
 
28 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 Sometimes informers slept with the women, at others money was given 
 which was found on the subsequent visit of the Inspector, occasionally on tne 
 woman's person, more frequently under the mat of the bed, in the pillow box, 
 or other receptacle. , , 
 
 In the third case heard (p. 79) we find that the women had escaped Dy a 
 
 ladder. . ^ . i 
 
 In case No. 13 a woman risked her hfeby getting out of window upon a sun- 
 In case No. 14 the women escaped by the roof, and in case No. 30 one of 
 the women escaped down a downspout, the whole of these escapes being at the 
 peril of hfe and limb. Case No. 10 (p. 81) affords the first instance m which 
 the inmates of an unUcensed house are prosecuted, but how they were brought 
 before the Court there is no evidence to show. 
 
 Case No. 13 affords the first evidence of all the women being arrested (per- 
 haps under Warrant No. 7), and it may be conveniently mentioned here that 
 from this date (6th July) the practice has apparently prevailed of apprehending 
 all the women found in unlicensed brothels. 
 
 In cases 1 and 19 charges were falsely got up, in one instance by Chinese 
 Lokongs, without any basis of truth ; in the other by district watchmen, and 
 with a result which well illustrates the dangers incident to this class of pro- 
 secution. 1 I, U4. 
 In the case alluded to seven women were apprehended on a charge brought 
 by Li-a-Shing, one of the district watchmen in question, of keeping and being 
 inmates of an unhcensed brothel, the chief witness being a child 10 years old, 
 who said on two occasions that he was the son of the first defendant. Five of 
 the defendants were described as married, and two, children of 13 and 14 years 
 old respectively, as unmarried. At the first hearing all were convicted, fined, 
 and sent to the Lock Hospital. On the following day the case was re-opened 
 at the instance of Inspector Grey. After taking further evidence the Registrar 
 General apparently concluded that the case had been got up by Li-a-Shing and 
 Lai-a-Luk, who had tried to extort money from the first defendant, and dis- 
 missed the case as against her and as against the fourth defendant, who had 
 been found healthy on examination, on security being given. 
 
 1869.— In this year there were 61 prosecutions in all, of which 16 were 
 directed against the keepers of unlicensed brothels and five against unlicensed 
 prostitutes. 
 
 There were also two charges against licensed boatmen (cases Nos. 20 and 28; 
 for conveying women on board ship for purposes of prostitution, the men being 
 in both cases convicted and fined 25 dollars and 10 dollars. Each one being 
 further fined 50 dollars for having no number on his boat. 
 
 There were 49 women tried as keepers, or inmates of sly brothels, and for 
 illegal prostitution in houses or boats. Of those connected with sly brothels, 
 22 women were convicted and fined, and four imprisoned as keepers or inmates, 
 2 1 were oi dered to find security in various ?ums for the good conduct of them- 
 selves or their houses (on several occasions, in addition- to tlieir fines), two were 
 ordered to be fined if found diseased upon examination at the Lock Hospital, 
 and 12 were discharged. Of the other prostitutes four were convicted and 
 fined; one ordered to find security, one was discharged, and one entered into a 
 bond to deport herself for five years in lieu of being medically examined. 
 Chinese informers were only employed twice, Chan-a-Kow and Lau-U, boatmen 
 belonging to the Registrar General's Department, being on each occasion again 
 selected for the office. In the first of these cases (No. 1, p. 85) the result was 
 somewhat curious. Three out of five defendants were discharged, and the fifth 
 defendant being sent to hospital the conviction of the first defendant was made 
 to depend on the certificate of Dr. Murray, touching the health of the former. 
 The fifth defendant, being found undoubtedly diseased, the first defendant was 
 fined 50 dollars, or two months' imprisonment. The case being re-opened three 
 days afterwards, evidence was given calculated to throw the gravest doubts on 
 the credibility of the informers, and which at any rate had sufficient weight with 
 the Registrar General to induce him to mitigate the sentence on the first de- 
 fendant by the remission of her fine on her giving security for the good conduct 
 of the third floor (which it is to be observed was fitted up for Chinese) of No. 84, 
 Praya West. VVe notice, however, that these two informers being again employed 
 
 (case 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 29 
 
 'case No. 13, April 15th), three •women were convicted and fined on their testi- 
 mony. In four cases Inspector Jamieson acted as detective in plain clothes. 
 Indian constables twice, and once some Europeans, voluntarily made charges 
 against women. The knowledge or suspicions of the Inspectors or c^^nstables 
 as to the mode of life of the women afforded the basis for convictions in four or 
 five cases. ' Once the Acting Registrar General himself played the part of in- 
 former, and in three cases Chinese neighbours came forward as witnesses in 
 prosecutions all of wliich were open to suspicion, one of them terminating, not 
 only in the discharge of the defendant, but also in a counter charge against the 
 informer of indecent assault, for which he was made to pay 10 I. amends. 
 
 We observe, also, that during this year the women in case No. 24 escaped by 
 the roof to avoid arrest. 
 
 1870. — This year produced 72 brothel prosecutions, of which 16 were directed 
 against the keepers and inmates of unlicensed houses. Forty-one defendants in 
 all were tried for this offence, of whom 1 8 were convicted and three remanded, 
 no more (so far as the records shew) being heard of their cases, and 17 dis- 
 charged. Of the 18 women copvicted 11 were fined in sums between 50 
 and 10 dollars each. Three were punished by being ordered to submit to pe- 
 riodical medical examination for three months, six months, and 12 months 
 respectively (the last-mentioned sentence being withheld on the woman pro- 
 mising to leave the Colony), and the remainder decreed to find security, one of 
 them being eventually discharged. 
 
 Chinese informers were employed six 'times, Chan-Ayau, the boatman 
 attached to the Registrar General's, being engaged in that capacity five times, 
 and Lau-U, his colleague, once, their testimony in each case ending in the con- 
 viction of some of the defendants. 
 
 Two Lokongs, Nos. 31 and 57, two other boat boys, a cook and house coolie 
 also undertook this work, the result in one case being a conviction, and in the 
 other unknown. 
 
 Once Inspector Douglas, and twice Inspector Lee, who came into office at the 
 end of this year, played the part of informers or detectives " in plain clothes." 
 In Lee's two cases (68 and 69) a police constable named Charles Guisville gave 
 evidence of having frequently had connexion with the women implicated, on 
 the second occasion the woman having been European. There were two cases 
 of women in the street being induced by Inspector Petersen, and by a poHce 
 constable named Rylands, to accept offers of money for purposes of prostitution. 
 Three charges against women for unlicensed prostitution in houses were un- 
 officially made, once by a German sailor, once by a tailor residing in the same 
 house as the defendant, and the third by an Indian sergeant belonging to 
 Jardine's Police ; the first case resulted in a conviction, the other two in dis- 
 missals, the prosecutions having evidently originated in malice. 
 
 A woman, in case No. 47, jumped out of window and severely injured herself 
 in order to escape apprehension by Douglas ; and case No. 17 resulted in an 
 assault upon one of the informers, Lo-I' (printed as Lo-Fu) by one of the defend- 
 ants outside the Court, for which she received from the Registrar General im- 
 prisonment for 10 days with hard labour. (Case No. 79, p. 91). In one 
 instance (case 57), the informer, Chan-Ayau, testified to having slept with the 
 defendant. 
 
 In addition to the cases already mentioned, there were, during this year, 
 three investigaitions touching charges against European women of getting their 
 livehhood as prostitutes (Nos. 35, 37, and 51), and one where Inspector Jamieson 
 charged three women with obstructing him in the discharge of his duty when 
 he was illegally endeavouring to make arrests in the upper floor of a licensed 
 brothel, this charge being dismissed. 
 
 1871. — For this year, about one half apparently of the judicial records have 
 been before the Commission, but there would appear to have been instituted 
 100 prosecutions, and we have found 1 1 charges against unlicensed brothels iu 
 which 30 women were impHcated as defendants ; 15 of these were convicted, of 
 whom eight were fined in hums varying from 50 dollars to 10 dollars, and three 
 subjected to medical examination for six months and 12 months each. In one 
 case no order was made, and the rest of the women were discharged. 
 
 In five instances informers were employed, none of them being Chinese. 
 Foreign police constables acted twice, and the Wardmaster of the civil hospital 
 
 o.sd. D 3 named 
 
30 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 named Robert Chapman once (apparently) in that capacity. In one case 
 Horton used the services of a man named Ward, who had connection with a 
 woman by the aid of Government money, and on another occasion a watchman 
 in a ganjbling house called Finch, and one Fry (or Pray) were employed for 
 similar purposes. 
 
 In case No. 96, Inspectors King and Horton, and in case No. 97, Horton, 
 acted as detectives " in plain clothes." 
 
 Cases Nos. &7 and 68 (pp. 95 and 96) well deserve attention as being illus- 
 trative of the use the Ordinance may be applied to. In the former, one 
 Alfred Flarey, a runner at Jenkins' boarding house, obtained 50 cents from 
 Horton with the view of charging a woman, claimed by Police Constable Charles 
 Christy as his mistress, as a prostitute, and having, according to his own 
 account, given her the money he " went to bed with her." The woman was 
 fined 10 dollars. This was on the 25th September. On the 26th, the tables 
 were turned by Police Constable Christy appearing as informer against four 
 women, one of whom (the first defendant) was claimed as his kept mistress by 
 Flarey. Christy was supported in his story by two fellow policemen, Dufton 
 and Thomas, and Christy and Thomas, " both had connexion with third 
 " defendant." Flarey's mistress was discharged. 
 
 The law, in these two instances, was put in motion obviously for the vilest of 
 purposes. 
 
 1872. — In 1872, there were 74 brothel prosecutions, of which 36 were 
 directed against the keepers and inmates of unlicensed brothels, and two against 
 out-door prostitution. Of the former class of women, there were 135 put upon 
 their trial, of whom 86 were convicted ; 52 of these were fined in sums varying 
 from 100 dollars to five dollars; 30 were ordered to be medically examined for 
 various periods (most of them in addition to their fines) ; 15 were called upon 
 to give security for their good behaviour ; one was deported, and one impri- 
 soned for three months with hard labour. 
 
 There were five out-door prostitutes tried and convicted, four were fined from 
 25 dollars to 15 dollars each and ordered for medical examination, and one was 
 called upon to give security in J 00 dollars for good behaviour for 12 months. 
 
 Paid informers were employed 23 times— Europeans on four, Chinese on 18, 
 and an Indian constable on one occasion. 
 
 A police constable (Jones), an unemployed steward who had belonged to 
 H. M. S. Ocean, named Vincent Greaves (who acted twice), and an unemployed 
 seaman were the Europeans who served in that capacity. Among the Chinese 
 informers was a Lokong (No. 250) called Low-a-Sin, who was . employed 
 altogether no less than nine times. Inspector Lee's boy, who acted three times, 
 the hospital coolie attached to the examination premises at Wanchai, who 
 appeared also three times, and a miscellaneous crowd of Registrar General's 
 servants, boatmen, carpenters, coolvs out of service, and the like made up the 
 remainder of the Chinese informers. 
 
 During this year also the Inspectors were unprecedentedly active in doina 
 detective service in plain clothes in the streets, Horton having employed himself 
 thus no less than 11 times either alone or with others (his companion twice 
 bemg Vincent Greaves), King four times, and Lee twice. There would not 
 appear to have been any prosecutions instituted upon unofficial complaints. 
 OQ ?^ ?I i!'' ^^""l \ '^'l' ^'^ instructive. Depositions 12 and 10, pp. 98 and 
 m should be read together. In the latter, Vincent Greaves, act ng as a paid 
 mformer employed by Inspector Horton, slept with the second defefdan^ and 
 contracted venereal disease," from which he was recovering on the dav on 
 which he gave his testimony, viz., the 13th February. On th! 19th Febkiarv 
 Z ifil n? tw' "^^^^^T^-^ ^^[dence that on the previous Friday which wis 
 the 16th of that month, he, at the instance of the same Inspector had been 
 agam employed as an informer, and again had connexion Sa woman the 
 second defendant, who was convicted on his evidence. It is impossi™ doubt 
 
 gJaTeLrabtr^"^'^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ P~^ '^^^^^tl 
 
 T f "" ^ aT^ 'Sn*'^ ^""^ publication several of the cases in which Low-a-Sin 
 Lokong No. 250 was engaged in special illustration of that paSlai class of 
 prosecutions m which the conviction k r.1iTr;m,cKr i, j i^iiticuiai class ot 
 
 money, which is afterwards S by the Insrc^J^on wC '""^ 'f'""^ "^ 
 have gone no further. ^ inspector on the woman, and matters 
 
 For 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 31 
 
 For example, in case No. 13, Inspector Lee found the money, two dollars, 
 ■which King had given to Low-a-Sin, on the second defendant's table with a 
 piece of China paper on them. Low-a-Sin declared that he gave the money to 
 the second defendant, but she, on the other hand, denied having received it. 
 She was, however, convicted. 
 
 In case 15 (p. 99), the same Lokong (who by the vpay was attached to the 
 Registrar General's Department, probably as interpreter) being employed. King 
 saw the Lokong take the marked dollar " out of a drawer in a table in second 
 " defendant's room." Low-a-Sin of course testified that she put it there, but the 
 defendant said " I never took a dollar from the Lokong." 
 
 In case No. 20 (p. 101), in which Low-a-Sin had employed as an informer 
 one Wong-a-Sz and given him two dollars, when King went to the implicated 
 house " I said (i, e., to the informer) What did you give her ? and he said two 
 " dollars, she has put them under the pillow. I looked under the pillow and 
 " found the dollars there." The woman in defence said " I never received the 
 " dollar," but she was convicted. 
 
 In another singular ease (No. 53, p. 109), in which a barber named Lo-a- 
 K'an, who already "had been to the brothel a great number of times and had 
 " slept with the first defendant," having gone to Inspector Lee, obtained from 
 him one dollar for himself and another for a friend named Wong-a-Wa, a cook 
 out of employment, upon the strength of which they went to the brothel and 
 had supper, wine, tea, and opium. Lee having entered the house by precon- 
 certed arrangement that night " asked A-Wa to whom he had given a dollar, 
 " and he said to the first defendant. I asked the other defendants if they had 
 " the dollar, they both denied it. I went into the first room and looked into 
 " the drawers of a table and found a dollar in one of the drawers ; I recognised it 
 " as the dollar I gave to A-Wa." The women were convicted, notwithstanding 
 their defence, which is one which deserves attention. 
 
 It is to be observed that in other cases (e.^., cases Nos. 28, 36, and37j pp. 103 
 and 104) women have produced the marked money, though of course the pretext 
 upon which it was given and received is dependent in each instance on the 
 testimony of the informers. 
 
 The cases in which the Inspectors themselves act as detectives find some 
 illustrations deserving notice among the depositions of this year. 
 
 Case No. 27 (p. 102), in which Horton, in the discharge of his duty, "got 
 into bed " with a Mrs. Cowie, wife of a turnkey in the gaol, who had been 
 separated from her for about two or thi'ee months, and Case No. 67 (p. 113) in 
 which King and Lokong No. 250 (Low-a-Sin, printed Lan-ah-Sin), went dis- 
 guised, the former as a sailor, the latter as " boatman," on the look out for 
 unhcensed prostitutes, give rise to painful reflection. 
 
 Case No. 74 (p. 114) possesses, however, perhaps a deeper interest than any 
 other of this year. There Horton, having bargained with the first defendant 
 for the deflowering of the second defendant, a child 15 years of age, arrested 
 them and six others, and the child being taken to the Lock Hospital and 
 subjected to medical examination, proved to be a virgin. 
 
 Ig73_ — In this year, there were 69 prosecutions under the Ordinance, of 
 which 24 were instituted against the keepers and inmates of licensed brothels 
 and two against women for out-door prostitution. 
 
 For the former offence, 72 women were tried, of whom 50 were convicted 
 and the rest discharged. Thirty-five defendants were fined in sums between 
 200 dollars and five dollars. Ten were called on to give security for good 
 behaviour, 11 were ordered for periodical medical examination (the sentences 
 on two of them being ultimately commuted to deportation for three months), 
 and three were imprisoned without the option of fines, one for six months with 
 hard labour, one for three months, and one for three weeks. 
 
 Three women were arrested for out-door prostitution, and all were convicted 
 and fined. Paid informers were employed 1 1 times altogether ; Europeans (or 
 foreigners) four, and Chinese seven tiiDCS. 
 
 There were three cases in which men reported houses to the police, the 
 informer being in one instance a German seaman, in another a Portuguese 
 watchman, and in the third undisclosed. 
 
 The Inspectors of Brothels did duty on six occasions as detectives in " plain 
 "clothes" on the I usual plan either with outsiders or alone, Horton being so 
 
 0-5 6. D 4 ' engaged 
 
32 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 engaged three times, once in company with an Indian Serang, once with King, 
 and once alone, and Lee so acting twice. 
 
 The foreigners who accepted service as informers this year were a police 
 constable named Smith attached as interpreter to the Inspectors of Brothels, a 
 seaman, a man named Finch, who was employed twice, and two dockyard con- 
 
 Among the Chinese informers, Inspector King s cook, Wong Fuk was the 
 most active, he having served four times ; a Lokong (No. 587) engaged twice. 
 Lokongs, Nos. 194 and 155, an interpreter named Cheung-Po, and a cook; 
 Leung- Yew, were also employed. 
 
 It is a significant fact that this cook and interpreter were subsequently tried 
 and convicted before Mr. May for extortion from brothel keepers. 
 
 In case No. 37, one woman jumped out of a window to escape apprehension 
 and " hurt herself" so severely as to necessitate her remaining in hospital from 
 the 16th May to the 24th June ; and in case No. 42, a girl named Lai-a-Alui, 
 charged with being a prostitute at 73 Praya East, fractured her leg presumably 
 in an attempt to escape arrest, and was in hospital from the 13th May to the 
 18th July. 
 
 During this year, we find the system of detection already in force apparently 
 somewhat expanded by the plan adopted by one of the inspectors of supplying 
 his Chinese informers with money, and with general instructions to find 
 unlicensed prostitutes. For instance, in case No. 2 (p. 1 1 7), King gave his cook 
 and a Lokong (No. 194) "a dollar piece, and told them to endeavour to get to 
 "stop with some unlicensed prostitutes," or as the cook puts it, "the inspector 
 " gave me a dollar to go and find an unlicensed prostitute." Again, in case 
 No. 19 (p. 122), the same cook deposed, " yesterday, I received order from Mr. 
 " King to go to Wanchai, and see if I could catch some unlicensed prostitutes. 
 " I got the assistance of a man who is master of a licensed brothc4 in Wanchai." 
 It is noteworthy that in this assistance again, the dollar given by King to his 
 cook was seen by the Inspector (Lee) " lying on the bed," and that upon the 
 evidence of this cook, corroborated only by Lee's " suspicions," the two women 
 were convicted. 
 
 George Finch, unemployed, but formerly a watchman on board the Canton 
 steamer (case No. 41, p. 134), went out with Lee in chairs from Peddar's 
 Wharf to try and discover unlicensed prostitutes, and the two having gone to a 
 house in Lyndhurst-terrace, so far as appears before unsuspected, by the use of 
 certain fictions, obtained entrance. " We asked," says Lee, " if we could stop 
 " the whole night," and they said " Yes, but you must pay four dollars each ! " 
 " I said that the price was rather high. Second defendant, who spoke in En"-- 
 " hsh all the time, said we are not the common girls who go to the doctor ; you 
 " must pay more." 
 
 1874.— During this year there were 58 prosecutions under the Ordinance, of 
 which 1 9 were directed against unUcensed brothels, and four against out-door 
 prostitution'. | 
 
 Seventy-five women and one man were arrested for being keepers and inmates 
 of the former, and seven women for practising the latter. On the whole 50 
 women were convicted, and, without reckoning three cases to be presently raen- 
 taoned, 36 were fined in sums varying between 50 dollars and two dollars. 
 Ihirteen were ordered for medical examination. 
 
 In one case (No. 41), out of seven defendants, four were sent for medical 
 examination before conviction ; one of them was found diseased and detained 
 the other three were discharged. In a second case (No. 42), three women were 
 sent for medical examination, one of them being 42 years of age, and the other 
 two 19 and 14 respectively, before conviction; all were found to be free from 
 disease, and two proved to be virgins. In a third case, two defendants were 
 sent for medical examination before conviction, one of whom was found diseased 
 and was detained, but the other was again discovered to be a vir^nn 
 
 Ihe authorities availed themselves of the services of paid informers 12 or 13 
 times, foreigners being employed on five, and Chinese on eight occasions 
 
 In one instance (case No. 24), in which a gun-lascar gave evidence it is 
 doub^ul whether he appeared in the character of a paid informer or not' In 
 case No. 25, a constable named David Dillot received money and slept with a 
 woman. In case No. 32, Inspector Horton engaged the services of two friends^ 
 
 one 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 33 
 
 one being known as Mr. Hood and the name of the other not appearing. In 
 case No. 34i, Private Michael Smith of the 80th Regiment, having received 
 four dollars from Horton to debauch a certain Mrs. Wright at her quarters in 
 the Qneen's-road, stayed on drinking brandy from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., but did not 
 effect his purpose. 
 
 Of the Chinese informers the inspector's interpreter, Ho-Ui-Shang (whose 
 evidence before the Commission concerning the prosecutions in which he was 
 concerned will be found at pp. 15 and 22), was employed six times, Lokong 
 217 once, and the hospital coolie, Ayuk by name, also once. 
 
 The inspectors acted as detectives " in plain clotiies " eight times, Horton 
 being so engaged on seven occasions, twice assisted by Lee, once by two friends, 
 and once by the hospital coolie Ayuk. Whitehead and Lee were employed 
 twice. 
 
 On one occasion (No. 41) Horton and Lee, and on another Whitehead, broke 
 into houses on suspicion and arrested the inmates. 
 
 The circumstances attending the prosecutions are, during this year, in many 
 instances, deserving of attention. There are four examples of that class of case 
 in which the inspector, upon being called in. " finds " the marked money in 
 some article of furniture. In cases 25, 27, and 58 (pp. 155, 156, and 165), the 
 money was so found " on the wash-stand," " beliind the looking-glass," and 
 " in a toilet table ; " and in another instance (No. 35, not printed) the circum- 
 stances were similar. 
 
 Women were twice fined for attempting to prevent the inspectors arresting 
 the inmates of implicated houses (cases Nos. 34 to 37) ; and once Horton struck 
 a man, who was subsequently fined two dollars for a like offence. 
 
 In case No. 32 (p. 157), we find Horton standing champagne and soda pur- 
 chased by one of the informers employed by Whitehead, and going into a bed- 
 room with a woman " who undressed and laid on the bed," and in the same 
 house, on a subsequent occasion, Horton went upstairs afterwards with the 
 keeper, who undressed herself and went to bed. " I gave her four dollars ; I 
 " laid in the bed wifh her, but got up, &c." In another case (No. 33, not 
 printed) Horton had champagne, and laid down on a bed with a woman. 
 
 It is noteworthy that in the case (No. 42, p. 164) in which two of the girls 
 arrested proved to be virgins. Inspector Whitehead broke into the house and 
 arrested the women because " tliere were reasonable grounds for believing that 
 " the house is a brothel," and that he had known " men go into the premises 
 "and be accommodated with women," and that the third and fifth defendants 
 were arrested because they happened to be in the house, although to the know- 
 ledge of Whitehead they " did not belong to it." It is also worthy of remark 
 that in case No. 58, where a man was struck and subsequently punished for 
 trying to obstruct the arrest of a girl, that girl proved to be a virgin, who, 
 according to Horton, had already been " before this court," and that this is one 
 of the cases of " marked money." 
 
 No house was prosecuted on any charge unofficially made. 
 
 1875. — In this year there were 33 prosecutions, eight of which were instituted 
 against unlicensed brothels, and six against out-door prostitution. 
 
 TJiirty-three women were apprehended as keepers and inmates of illegal 
 brothels, of whom 27 were convicted. Of these 26 were fined, and one was 
 ordered to find security. All appear to have been sent to the hospital for 
 medical examination, and four apparently were detained for treatment. Six 
 defendants were di><charged, one of them upon the terms of entering a licensed 
 house presumably for Chinese. 
 
 There were seven women tried for out-door prostitution, four as street 
 walkers, one for carrying on her trade in boats, and one under the guise of a 
 washerwoman. All were convicted and ordered apparently for medical exami- 
 nation ; four were fined, and one was ordered to find security. 
 
 Regular informers were employed four times ; once a soldier of the 80th 
 Regiment, who had connexion with a woman ; and on three occasions Chinese. 
 'Jhese latter consisted of persons selected by the interpreter to the inspectors. 
 
 On two occasions Inspector Horton acted as detective in the usual way for 
 the purpose of arresting street walkers. 
 
 There were five cases in which prosecutions were supported by evidence 
 other than that of informers. Once this was done by the testimony of a corporal 
 
 o.-je. E of 
 
34 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 of gun-lascars, another time by a soldier of the 80th Regiment, again by a 
 Chinaman, the " protector " of the woman charged ; and finally by the servant 
 of the Captain of Her Majesty's ship " Modeste," who (the servant) had been 
 diseased in an unlicensed brothel ia Graham-street. 
 
 In three cases (Nos. 2, 3, and 33, pp. 166, 167 and 173) in which Chinese 
 informers were concerned, the inspector " found " the marked money in some 
 article of furniture. Incase No. 2, Lee said, " The second defendant denied 
 " having any money, and I found one of my notes in her pillow." In case No. 
 3, Lee deposed, " I asked the second defendant for the money she had received. 
 " She said she had never received any. I searched her bed and found two of 
 " the notes produced under her pillow. The third defendant, on being questioned, 
 " denied having received the money ; I searched and found the two notes pro- 
 " duced between the bed where she was hiding and the wall." 
 
 In case No. 33 the same inspector " found a one dollar note in the bed, 
 "under an opium dross box, and another dollar note in the drawer of a 
 
 " dressing-box Ah-Kwai (one of the informers) pointed out 
 
 "to me where the first dollar note was, but he did not know where the other 
 " note was," The women im[)licated by these notes, it will be observed, were 
 all convicted and fined. 
 
 Among the out-door prostitutions not the least instructive are cases Nos. 23 
 and 24, in which a blind guitar woman and a deaf and dumb woman married 
 to a rice sweeper were convicted of being prostitutes, fined, and subjected to 
 medical examination. 
 
 1876 and 1877-— In the month of February 1876, Ordinance 2 of 1876 came 
 into operation, whereby jurisdiction over brothel prosecutions was otice mpre 
 transferred to the police magistrates, sitting with closed doors, and we have now 
 to consider the cases tried under this system. 
 
 In 1876, there were 17 brothel prosecutions, of which 11 were directed 
 against the keeping of and residing in unlicensed brothels, oiie against out-door 
 prostitution, and one against both offences combined. In 1877 there were 
 15 of such prosecutions, of which 12 were concerned with unlicensed brothels. 
 
 In 1876, 41 women were appreh(?nded and tri^d in connection with unlicensed 
 brothels, and two for out-door prostitution ; 37 were convicted and fined, with 
 the alternative of imprisonment with hard labour, for certain periods, and as 
 appears from the records, eight women at least were subjected to such imprison- 
 ment. In 1877, 43 women were apprehended and tried, two were killed in 
 escaping from apprehension, 40 were convicted and fined, three were ordered 
 to find security to appear to answer any charge within a month, and three were 
 discharged. 
 
 During these two years, until the system was stopped by order of His Ex- 
 cellency the Governor, paid informers were generally used, their services being 
 resorted to by the authorities on no less than 22 occasions. Foreio-ners were 
 thus employed twice and Chinese 21 times. " 
 
 The duty of selecting the Chinese informers was entrusted to the interpreter 
 to the inspectors, Cheang-a-Iu, who personally took part in seven cases as such 
 mformer, but the person principallv concerned in these prosecutions during the 
 period under review was a discharged Lokong named Soono--a-Wai This man 
 seems first to have appeared in case No. 6,724 (p. 185)° in association with 
 JNg-a-Kau, and subsequently he acted as informer either alone or in association 
 with others eight times. Ng-a-Kau served in this capacity five times, the last 
 occasion being the time when Chun-Tai-Yau lost her life. 'The hospital coolie 
 at Wanchai was employed once, and a man named Nam-a-Kiu twice Horton 
 twice acted as detective in "plain clothes." In six cases in which Chinese 
 informers were employed the inspectors, upon searching, found the " marked " 
 money secreted in the defendant's room. In case No. 5,856, of 1876 fp 183) 
 Lee says : ' They demed having received any money. I therefore searched the 
 
 rooms, and m the second room I found a one dollar note, which, from the 
 
 number I knew to be one of the four dollar notes 1 had given to theTntei! 
 preter.' In case No 3,555 (p. 190) marked money was found by Lee in the 
 earthenware pillow of two defendants, and one of them "said she had not re 
 ceived any.^ In this instance Soong-a-Wai had been one of the informers In 
 the record No. 5,470, in which Soong-a-Wai was again engaged, Lee dep^seJ. 
 
 " I asked 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 35 
 
 *' I asked second defendant where the money was that had been given her. She 
 " denied having received any. 1 searched the second compartment, and under 
 " the bed in the floor I found a one dollar note. No. 92,361. I then went into 
 " the first compartment and searched that. 1 found a woman's jacket hanging 
 " again?t the wall, and in the pockets found two one dollar notes." In case 
 No. 6,163 (p. 196), in which Soong-a-Wai was concerned, Lee swore, "she told 
 " me that she had not received any money. I then searched her dressing box 
 " and found two dollars in notes, &c., &c., &c. I believe the man told me 
 " where I should find the notes." Incase No. 6,164 fp. 197), in which Nij-a-Kau 
 and Hung-a-Wai were the informers, the "inspector took the notes fmm below 
 " the mat," where, however, according to the informer, Hiing-a-Wai'g, evidence, 
 the woman said it was. In case No. 6,300 (p. 199) one of the defendants (the 
 third) said in her defence that Ng-a-Kau " placed the two dollar notes in my 
 " dn.'ssing case." In case No. 6,558 (p. 200), Soong-a-Wai heing one of the 
 informers, Lee, who had made arrangements to meet the interpreter at 10 p.m., 
 searched the bed of the second defendant and " one dollar note. No. 208,850, 
 " was found in an earthenware pillow on the bed." In case No. 5,554 no money 
 was found at all. , There are many instances in these two years, as in those 
 preceding them, where the informers lay themselves out for a night of pleasure 
 at the public expense, as in case No. 3,585 of 1877, where the Europeans 
 employed had in four bottles of sherry cordial ; in case No. 6,163 of the sarae 
 year, where Soong-a-Wai and his friend had "chow-chow and opium"; in 
 case No. 6,558, where Soong-a-Wai and his friend had s-upper, opium and fruit ; 
 and in the case of the inquest upon Chun-tai-Yau, where Cheong-Kan-Tsoi 
 paid for the supper with money obtained from the interpreter, and Ng-a-Kau 
 " had some drink and was not quite drunk, but was under the influence of 
 " drink." 
 
 It is to be noted also that one Hung-a-Wai did, as informer, with the assist- 
 ance of public money and in the interests of justice, have connection with a child 
 15 years of age (p. 198\ that several times the interpreter slept with women, 
 and that .Soong-a-Wai and Ng-a-Kau were both engaged as informers in 1876 
 (case No. 6,724, p. 185), when Soong-a-Wai slept witli Tai-Yau against her will, 
 which led to his being rewarded, and to her being fined 100 dollars and to the 
 loss of her child. 
 
 Having now carefully reviewed the foregoing long list of prosecutions, we are 
 of opinion that the system which has been for so long pursued is one which 
 cannot be too emphatically condemned. It is indeed difficult to regard much 
 that has been done dispassionately. 
 
 The record of the shameful tasks entrusted in the name of the Government 
 to informers paid by public money — to Chinese and foreigners alike — to 
 policemen, soldiers, and seamen ; of the lawless and immoral proceedings of 
 the inspectors of brothels and their underlings ; and of the all but unchecked 
 license allowed them in the discharge of their functions, is sufficiently surpris- 
 
 But it is not alone in the scandals and abuses to which it has given rise that 
 the condemnation of this system has to be sought. The conviction has been 
 forced upon us that justice must, in many instances, have miscarried. While 
 saying this we are of course aware that the courts which tried the charges had 
 advantages not open to us, in seeing and hearing the witnesses, and in being 
 in a position to study their demeanour. On the other hand, we have read 
 these cases as a whole, and compared them with each other, and we have, 
 moreover, certain evidence which does not seem to have been elicited by the 
 courts. 
 
 One of the first objections to these informers' cases which has struck us, 
 consists of their extraordirtary similitude to each other. They would seem to 
 have been cast in the same mould. Certain proofs were known to be required, 
 and they have always been forthcoming. The cases may be broadly divided 
 into two classes : (1.) Those in which actual connection has taken place between 
 the informers and the women ; and (2.) Those in which marked money has 
 passed and the women have been convicted on that fact. 
 
 With reference to the former class, the significance of connection as a proof 
 of prostitution necessarily depends on whether there had been any and what 
 pre-existing relations between the parties, and on the pretext under which such 
 connection had been obtained ; and as touching the passing of marked money 
 
 0.56. E 2 we 
 
36 PAPERS RELATING TO THE. 
 
 v!e find room for the most serious suspicions that it was either often Placed by 
 the informers where the inspector subsequently found it, or that it was nob 
 Riven and accepted for the purpose subsequently deposed to. ... ^^„^^ 
 Upon these two points Cheang-a-Iu's evidence before the Commission deserves 
 attentive perusal. Clieang-a-Iu is the present interpreter to the inspectors or 
 brothels ; that, at least, is his official designation and position. But it seems 
 that to the more proper duties of his office he has, in common with many oi 
 his predecessors, been called on to add those of an informer, and of engaging trie 
 services of Chinese informers. The result of his experience, which dates trom 
 the year 1876, may be briefly epitomised as follows :— , .j u r 
 
 In case No. 5,365 of 1876 (answer 529, &o.) the information was laid before 
 the inspector out of grudge, the second defendant having been his dead father s 
 concubine. " She left his father's house to become a prostitute, and the son 
 " did not like it." la this case the interpreter slept in the same bed with the 
 woman, bnt had no connection. In case No. 5,535 of 1876 (ans. 540, &c.) the 
 informer put the law in motion in order to recover a jade bangle from a woman 
 which he had pledged with her as security for payment for " accommodation. 
 Having got two dollars from inspector Whitehead, he spent one in redeeming his 
 jeweller)', and the other in spending another night with the woman. The 
 interpreter also slept with a woman by the aid of another two dollars, and" 
 as he rightly said, "this is a curious case." In case No. 5,856 of 1876 
 (ans. 549, &c.) a man employed in a Compradore's shop mformod against a 
 girl whom he had been in the' habit of visiting, but whom he did not regularly 
 keep, because " the girl transferred her love to some one else." The interpreter 
 himself had been to the house before " several times." The Compradore's 
 clerk's jealousy was avenged by the punishment of the woman, and he got 
 two dollars as a reward for betraying the girl. 
 
 Then we come to the man Soong-a-Wai, a dismissed Lokong, " living on his 
 " friends," who was employed so often. To him the interpreter " sometimes 
 " gave a small sum in order to spend it among sly brothels for the purpose of 
 " detection, and after conviction, when he got his reward, the sums were repaid." 
 (Ans. 592.) The first time apparently he was regularly employed he came 
 forwa*rd (ans. 570), because at 64 Praya West they had not treated him with 
 sufficient courtesy " in not offering him tea." The interpreter believed he got 
 two dollars " as a reward, and could not guarantee that the money was not 
 " placed where it was found by the informer. In manv cases the women have 
 " said so." In another prosecution (ans. 610 et seq.) a Chin-cliew man having 
 been " treated with discourtesy " when he only owed one night's money, laid an 
 information, and the informer and his friends got a supper at the public 
 expense in consequence. 
 
 It is to be remarked that in a large proportion of the cases referred to by this 
 witness (see those mentioned at p. 20) the houses implicated were solely for 
 the accommodation of Chinese, and it was impossible to obtain entrance into 
 them without introductions. 
 
 Ho-Ui-Shang (p. 15), interpreter to the inspectors of brothels in 1874, to 
 whom it was left, when informers were required " to find whom he thought 
 " fit," deposed that " when he got informers, some were friends of the women 
 " and some were strangers (ans. 444) ; and when he took a friend ofa woman as 
 ■' informer he knew he would have connection." (Ans. 445.) The same 
 Avitness also corroborated the evidence of Cheang-a-Iu as to the informers 
 " doing these things out of grudge and sometimes out of jealousy" (ans. 447 
 and p. 22) ; he gave two examples where " grudge" formed the motive of the 
 prosecution on the part of the informer, in one of which (ans. 736) a man named 
 Shek-Kai, at that time and still in the Government service as kidnapping 
 detective, " wanted some money from the uoman," and, not getting it, told the 
 inspector. Chu-a-Mo, the boatman, was dismissed on account of this case. 
 
 At page 232 (Enclosure A) some particulars will be found, not without 
 interest, touching Inspector King's cook, Wong-a-Fook, who was so active as an 
 informer in 18/3, and to whom it will he recollected was at times entrusted a 
 sort of general commission to detect unlicensed brothels. The information came 
 from Low-a-Su, police constable 250, who had himself figured frequently as an 
 informer in 1872, and if this deponent is to be believed,'^not only was Won-a- 
 Fook, a convicted thief, registered as a servant under a false name, but this fact 
 had been communicated to Inspector King. 
 
 The 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 37 
 
 The other two defendants mentioned in the enclosure referred to as having 
 been convicted of an attempt to extort money from brothel keepers by menaces, 
 had also previously played the parts of informers, and the whole episode, in its 
 bearing upon the subject under review, is extremely instructive. 
 
 Mr. Bedell Le Yuen, who has been one of the interpreters at the police 
 court for nearly 17 years, and has had much experience of evidence, and 
 unequalled opportunities of dealing with Chinese witnesses, was very 
 unfavourably impressed with the testimony of both European and Chinese 
 informers. As to the former " I think," he said, " their evidence was not all 
 "true; some, I think, wanted to make money out of the charges; some, I 
 *' think, had had quarrels and got somebody to prosecute. (Ans. 742 et seq.) 
 " As to the Chinese informers some were not true. ... In many cases, I 
 " think, when the money was found in dressing cases, pillow boxes, and under 
 " mats and in such places, the informers put it there. I have heard the defen- 
 " dants deny having received the money, and say they could swear they never 
 " received it. In many of these cases the defendants who denied receiving 
 " the money did so in such a way as to convince me they were telling the 
 " truth." (Ans. 746 et seq.) As to the informer Soong-a-Wai, "although at 
 " first his cases seemed all right," Mr. Bedell Le Yuen believe:* that " afterwards 
 " he trumped up cases without any real evidence." (Ans. 750.) 
 
 Mr. Lister, who was acting Registrar General for over a year, and entered upon 
 his office very shortly after the Ordinance of 1867 came into operation, in the 
 course of his valuable evidence told us, that as the result of his experience he 
 finally entertained the most unfavourable opinion of the system of detection he 
 had employed. " I^became," he said, " suspicious of the whole system of cou- 
 " victions against houses for Chinese. I was certain that the informers could 
 " not be depended on for one moment. My inspector employed his own boat- 
 " men as informers. I became convinced that I could lock up the whole 
 " Chinese female population by this machinery." Finally, his confidence in 
 the results of the medical examinations, which he had been looking upon as 
 infallible, being upset, " I began," he said, " to review my position very 
 "seriously, and in February 1869 {vide C. S. O. 336, 22nd February 1869, 
 " para. 8), I stated that experience had shown me the advisability of not 
 " punishing registered houses which received Cbinese only, provided they keprt 
 " quiet." (Ans. 94.) This excellent advice, as we have seen, was unfortunately 
 not taken. 
 
 Mr. Lister preferred that an informer, if he went to a brothel at all, should be 
 able to state that he had had connection with a woman, " as I thought it very 
 " unjust that a woman should be condemned simply because she had a dollar 
 " in her possession. I thought that vei:y few Chinese women would refuse a 
 " dollar. ... I felt the mere possession of the dollar was not satisfactory 
 " evidence of prostitution." (Ans. U4.) " In one or two cases " Mr. Lister 
 " felt sure that the evidence of the Chinese informers arose either from malice 
 " or a desire to extort money." (Ans. 115.) 
 
 The absence from the Ordinance of 1867 of any definition of the terms 
 " prostitution " and " brothels," although, as Mr, Smith, no doubt quite justly, 
 says, it has placed a great difficulty on the Registrar General (ans. 54), has given 
 the courts a very wide discretion, and may to some extent perhaps serve to 
 account for some convictions which have struck us as unsatisfactory. 
 
 Mr. Smith " takes a house to be a brothel where there are at least two 
 " women living by prostitution." By prostitution he means " where a woman 
 " is living, not under the protection of any individual, but gains her Uving by 
 " promiscuous intercourse with men." 
 
 Mr. Lister takes substantially the same view as Mr. Smith of the meaning of 
 the terms " brothel " and " prostitutes," but he thinks the presence of one 
 woman would have been sufficient to convict. (Ans. 75-76.) Mr. Wodehouse's 
 " idea of a brothel would have been any house in which more than one woman 
 " was found for the purpose of prostitution," and he substantially agrees with 
 Mr. Smith as to the meaning of " prostitution." Mr, May says, " a woman who 
 " has promiscuous intercourse with different men for money is a prostitute, but 
 " if she lives under the protection of one man she is not a prostitute. If a 
 " woma,n is living in a room alone^and receives the visits of men as a prostitute, 
 " she converts that into a brothel. There are thousands of women whose hus- 
 " bands or protectors are away at sea, or at California, Australia, and other 
 0.56. E 3 " foreigu 
 
38 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 " foreign places. These women resort to a sort of sly prostitution for a living. 
 " They would be living in a sort of recognised concubinage or as prostitutes. 
 
 (Answer 280 et seq.) • e i-u 
 
 Probably these views are in substantial accord with the meaning ot tne 
 Legislature, but then in what proportion of the decided cases was there any 
 proof that the women convicted had (jromisnuous intercourse with men and 
 grained their living by it ? In the majority of cases certainly, even where inter- 
 course has taken place witli the informer, there has seldom been anything to 
 show that the woman has had commerce with more than that one man, and we 
 have already seen how unsatisfactory a proof this fact may be of prostitution. 
 
 Arrest of Keepers, Inmates, &c. 
 
 Among the most important chanues in the law brought about by the Ordinance 
 of 1867, we have already drawn attention to those connected with the arrest of 
 keepers, and the prosecution of inmates of unhcensed brothels. As we have 
 seen, under the old law, keepers were brought before tl)e Court under the pro- 
 visions of Ordinance 10 of 1844, in the first instance by summons, and if that 
 procedure was not effectual, they were liable to be arrested by warrant, and mere 
 inmates were not liable to prosecution. 
 
 Now, whatever reason the Legislature may have had to alter the law as 
 regards the keepers, it certainly cannot be gathered from the judicial records of 
 cases tried under the Ordinance of 1857. 
 
 After careful examination we have discovered but one case in which either 
 summons or warrant failed in its effect, and even there the women implicated 
 were fined in their absence. (No. 2,967, P- 70^) However, larger powers being 
 required they were conferred by section XX, which runs as foUows : — 
 
 " XX. "Whenever the Registrar General or the Superintendent of Police shall have 
 " reason to suspect that any house or portion of a house is used as an unlicensed brothel, 
 " it shall be lawful for them or either of them, and for any constables or other persons 
 " deputed by them or either of them for the purpose, at any time without warrant to 
 " enter, and, if necessary, to break into such house or portion of a house, and to take into 
 " custody any person who shall appear, act, or behave himself as a person having the care 
 '' or management of such house or portion of a house so suspected as aforesaid, and such 
 " person shall be brought forthwith before a magistrate, wlio may, as he shall think fit, 
 " order such person to be discharged from custody, or may deal with him or her under 
 " the provisions of section XXI of Ordinance No. 8 of 1858." 
 
 Let us for a moment examine the method of procedure prescribed by this 
 section. " The powers of the inspectors," as Mr. Smith clearly puts it, " are 
 " simply those delegated to them by the Registrar General. They have no right 
 " to do anything of an executive nature without communicating with the 
 " Registrar General and getting his permission. If an inspector suspected a 
 " house, he would state his suspicions to the Registrar General. The Registrar 
 " General would make inquiries as to the grounds of suspicion from him. If 
 " they are clear, he would be told to get witnesses." (Ans. 45, p. 3.) These 
 are the requirements of the law, accurately stated. The inspectors have no right 
 or authority to act in any case before the Registrar General or Superintendent 
 of Police (who has, however, taken no part in the matter) has exercised his 
 mind on the case, and deputed his officers to take proceedings with reference to 
 it. This is the reasonable safeguard provided by law against abuse of very 
 unusual authority. Unfortunately, it seems to have been too oiten neglected. 
 Mr. Lister would not seem to have paid any attention to it from the first, for he 
 says (iins. 98), " As a general rule, the first thing I knew of a case of an unli- 
 " censed brothel coming before me was the finding of a string of women in my 
 " office in the morning, &c." Whitehead has also informed us that if «' he 
 " suspected a house he should have to report it to the Registrar General before 
 *' action was taken, but in special cases we have acted without instructions." 
 
 By section XXVL it is provided that :— 
 
 " Every woman who shall reside in, frequent, or be found in an unlicensed brothel for 
 
 the purposes of prostitution, shall, upon proof thereof to the satisfaction of tlie Hegistrar 
 
 " n^orexSiedLg to rths7' "'^^ ""^''^= '' '^^^^^^' '' *° imprisonment for anf term 
 
 Genera/'^"'^"''^ ^ °^ ^^^^' ^^'^ ^°'^ Magistrate has been substituted for Registrar 
 
 . The 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 39 
 
 The Ordinance does not, in terms, provide any mode of bringing these inmates 
 before the Court, but by Section V, full power was reserved to the Registrar 
 General " to do whatever a Police Magistrate is by any Ordinance of this Colony 
 " authorised to do," including the power of issuing summonses, and, where 
 necessary, warrants, conferred upon Police Magistrates and Justices of the Peace 
 by Ordinance 10 of 1844. But this mode of procedure is not the one which has 
 been foUovved, it having been the practice of the Inspectors, alraost from the 
 time when the Ordinance was brought into operation, to arrest all women indis- 
 criminately who were found within any suspected brothel upon its being broken 
 into. 
 
 On this point we have invited explanations from Mr. Smith and Mr. Lister, 
 and their replies, which will be found in the Appendix, p. 312 and p. 321, are 
 worthy of attentive consideration. 
 
 Both these gentlemen are somewhat curiously under the impression that the 
 practice of arresting inmates summarily, survived from the Ordinance of 1857, 
 under which, in point of fact, they could not be proceeded against at all. Both 
 admit, as indeed must be admitted, that the Ordinance of 1867 does not directly 
 sanction the summary arrests of mere inmates in houses, but they contend that 
 the practice received lesal sanction by means of the introduction of a clause 
 towards the end of the Ordinance by which all offences against its provisions 
 became misdemeanours (section 71)? which had, according to Mr. Nmith, the 
 effect of bringing into operation Section XVI of Ordinance 14 of 1845, con- 
 firmed, as Mr. Lister puts it, by Section XVIII of Ordinance 9 of 1862. 
 Section XVI of Ordinance 14 of 1845, an Ordinance headed " Good order and 
 " cleanliness," so far as it has any bearing upon this subject, is as follows : — 
 
 " It shall be lawful for any constable belonging to tlie Police Force to take into 
 " custody without a warrant all loose, idle, and disorderly persons whom he shall find 
 " disturbing the public peace, or whom he shall have good cause to suspect of having 
 " committed or being about lo commit any felony, misdemeanour, or breach of the 
 " peace, &c." 
 
 Section XVIII of Ordinance 9 of 1862, which is intituled " An Ordinance for 
 " the Establishment and Regulatiou of the Police Force of the Colony of Hong- 
 " kong," provides as follows : — 
 
 " It shall be lawful for any officer or constable of the Police Force to apprehend any 
 " person who shall be charged with, or whom he shall reasonably suspect of being guilty 
 " of any felony or misdemeanour, without any warrant for that purpose, &c." 
 
 Mr. Smith says, " under Section XX of Ordinance 10 of 1867, a police 
 " officer receives authority to enter premises suspected to be used as an 
 " unlicensed brothel and to arrest the keeper, and being therefore in such 
 " house by lawful authority, he makes the other arrests indicated." 
 
 We find the greatest difficulty in accepting this construction of the law on 
 this very important point. It seems to us that under Section XX of Ordinance 
 10 of 1867, a police officer receives no authority of the kind. That section 
 confines the extraordinary power of breaking and entering houses and arresting 
 without warrant to the Registrar General and the superintendent of police, or 
 " to any constables or other persons deputed by them or either of them for the 
 purposed The Registrar General, therefore, certainly could nol depute to others 
 authority not possessed by himself. Moreover, neither Ordinance 14 of 1845, 
 nor Ordinance 9 of 1862, give power to a constable to break and enter dwelling 
 houses without warrant, and therefore the summary arrests therein authorised 
 necessarily mean out-door arrests. 
 
 But the matter stands on a broader ground than is opened by technical 
 objections. The fact that the Ordinance, while conferring extraordinary powers 
 with respect to summary arrests of keepers and out-door prostitutes, stopped 
 short there, affords to us a conclusive reason that the Legislature never con- 
 templated such a method of proceduie being applied to inmates. As a highly 
 penal Ordinance, it is one which requires strict construction ; and terms not 
 fairly contemplated by it should not have been sought to have been imported 
 by a side wind ; especially as the Ordinance presents on this point no difficulty 
 or obscurity. 
 
 The difficulty of discriminating between keepers and inmates, mentioned by 
 both Mr. Smith and Mr. Lister, seems to us to afford but little excuse for the 
 wholesale summary apprehensions of women not liable to such arrests. None 
 
 0.56. ' , E4 of 
 
40 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 of the many young girls so arrested could have been mistaken for keepers. 
 But where the circumstances were such as not to permit the necessary classi- 
 fication, surely it would have been the better practice to trust to a summons 
 than to lay violent hands at dead of night on numbers of terrified women who 
 had just been enticed to their own undoing by paid agents of the department. 
 Hundreds of women have, however, as it appears to us, been illegally arrested. 
 Many, in their wild alarm at the degrading punishment which they had too 
 much reason to fear would follow their capture, risked their lives in efforts to 
 avoid it. Some had their limbs fractured, and at length, as we know, on the 
 ni^ht between the 16th and 17th October 1877, two were killed. 
 
 That the two women whose death gave rise to the appointment of this Com- 
 mission were mere inmates of the houses, there seems no room to doubt. 
 Fung-a-Sz, commonly called Aso, was indeed only a servant {see evidence of 
 Chan-a-Lok, printed deposition of coroner's inquest, p. ix) ; and Chun-Tai-Yau, 
 the other deceased, had been brought in by the informer, Ng-Kan, from 9 Lynd- 
 hurst-terrace, to 42, Peel-street, where the arrests were made. Besides, we 
 find that in case No. 8,322 of 1877 (p- 203), two other women were charged 
 by the inspector with being the keepers of the house in Lyndhurst-terrace on 
 this occasion, and another woman, Lau-a-I, was at the same time charged as 
 keeper of the house No. 42, Peel-street. (Case No. 8,321, p. 202.) But the 
 illegality of the arrests of these women does not depend upon the question of 
 their having bee'i mere inmates, because we have no hesitation in saying that 
 the whole proceedings, certainly so far as they concerned 42, Peel-street, were 
 totally illegal ab initio. Mr. Wodehouse, the then Acting Registrar General 
 deposed beloie the coroner that he had " no recollection " of No. 9, Lyndhurst. 
 terrace having been reported to him, and that he knew nothing about 42, Peel- 
 street (|j. xi, printed copy of coroner's depositions). This, therefore, was one 
 of the special cases spoken ot by chief inspector Wliitehead, in.wliich action was 
 taken without instructions ; that is without the only authority which could have 
 given it validity. 
 
 It only remains to add that the praciice of making these arrests began when 
 Mr. Lister was in office, nearly 10 years ago, and had been continuously followed 
 up to the 1 7th October 187'7. Mr. Lister is practically certain that he took 
 advice before commencing it, but he is not certain whose, and there is nothing 
 in the records before us to show. (Appendix p. 321.) 
 
 Seizing Marked Money. 
 
 We have seen that it has been the habit of the inspectors to seize, or compel 
 the inmates of licensed houses to return the marked moneys paid to them by 
 the informers ; but under what colour of right this has been done, we are at a 
 loss to understand. True it is that residing in, frequenting, or being found in 
 an unlicensed brothel has been made an oflfence against the law liable, upon 
 proof, to punishment. But the law nowhere says, so far as we can discover, 
 that the earnings of such an offender shall be confiscated to Government, still 
 less that they shall be searched tor and seized without warrant or legal process. 
 When the marked money passed to the woman in consideration fur benefits 
 received, or to be received by its agents, it ceased, as it seems to us, to be the 
 property of the Government ; and the fact of the coin or note being marked 
 cannot have made any difference in its proprietorship. The inspectors surely 
 never had more shadow of legal right to seize these moneys than any other 
 portion of the woman's belongings. 
 
 Medical Examination of Women. 
 
 We feel bound to notice one other practice commenced by Mr. Lister and 
 
 subsequently followed by his successors in office, which we regard as equally 
 
 illegal and which led more than once to sad consequences. By sections 44 and 
 
 45 of Ordinance 10 of 1867, which are taken from the English Act of 1866 and 
 
 which remam untouched by Ordinance 2 of 1876, it is provided that " Where 
 
 ' an information on oath is laid before the Registrar General by the superin- 
 
 tendent or an inspector of police charging to the effect that the informant has 
 
 good cause to believe that a woman therein named is a common prostitute, &c.. 
 
 the Registrar General, on oath being made before him substantiating the 
 
 matter of tiie information to his satisfaction, may, if he thinks fit, order that the 
 
 " woman 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 41 
 
 " woman be subject to a periodical medical examination by a visiting surgeon 
 " for any period not exceeding one year for the purpose of ascertaining at the 
 " time of each such examination whether she is affected by a contagious 
 " disease." Now we do not see how these words can bear any other construction 
 than that the Registrar General is to be satisfied by independent testimony on oath 
 that any woman is a common prostitute before subjecting her to medical examina- 
 tion, and that being so satisfied he may submit her to a periodical medical 
 examination. But turning to the records we find such sentences as the 
 following : — In case 37 of 1868 (9th October), " Both defendants sent for 
 "examination; if found diseased to be fined 15 dollars each or six weeks." 
 And agdn in case No. 1 of 1869, " fifth defendant sent to hospital, first 
 " defendant remanded for Dr. Murray's evidence. Dr. Murray certifying fifth 
 " defendant to be undoubtedly diseased first defendant is fined fifty dollars or 
 " two months." This is a part of the " machinery " by which Mr. Lister 
 " became convinced he could lock up the whole Chinese female population." 
 
 To this point we invited the special attention of Mr. Smith, and owing 
 doubtless to our not having put the matter as clearly as we might, Mr. Smith 
 does not seem to have appreciated its full force. In paragraph 9 of his letter 
 (Appendix, p. 313), he " presumes " that the examination " 5e/bre conviction" 
 " applies to conviction of being found in an unlicensed brothel for the purpose of 
 " prostitution." Partly, no doubt, this is what we did mean, but we also referred 
 to conviction of being " a common prostitute," which, as Mr. Smith very accu- 
 rately puts it, " must precede the issue of an order for her medical examination." 
 Mr. Smith cannot recall to mind ever having done what he supposed we alluded 
 to, but we had in our mind two cases decided by Mr. Smith, among others, 
 which specially prompted our inquiry. We refer to cases .42 and 58 of 1874 
 (pp. 164 and 165). in the former we find two defendants, one described as 19 
 and the other as 14 yeai'S of age, against whom it is difficult to see that there 
 was any reasonable evidence of being common prostitutes, being remanded, and 
 while under remand being ordered to the Lock Hospital for medical examination, 
 where they proved to be virgins. In the latter we again come upon a case in 
 which a girl of 14, when under remand, was ordered for medical examination, 
 who also turned out to be a virgin. 
 
 In case No. 74, of 1872 (page 114), a girl, aged 14, while out on bail, was 
 taken to the hospital for medical examination by Inspector Horton, but there 
 is nothing in the record to show whether this was done by the orders of the 
 officer who tried the case or not. This girl proved to be a virgin. 
 
 It is a curious circumstance that the case No. 58, of 1874 (page 165), which 
 finally led to so grave a scandal, affords in itself an illustration of most of the 
 objectionable or illegal practices on which we have commented. 
 
 1. Chinese informers were employed, one of whom was a police con- 
 stable. 
 
 2. Two inmates were arrested. 
 
 3. The inspector struck a man for trying to prevent the illegal arrest of 
 one of the inmates. 
 
 4. The fourth defendant was arrested for, as far as can be seen, no 
 offence. 
 
 5. A woman's room was illegally searched, and money illegally seized. 
 
 6. A fine was imposed on the fourth defendant for no legal offence. 
 
 7. And lastly, a girl was sent for medical examination who was not a 
 common prostitute. 
 
 Women being sent to Lock Hospital after Payment of Fines. 
 
 A practice which has been in force since the jurisdiction over brothel offences 
 was transferred to the magistrates by Ordinance 2 of 1876, requires a word of 
 comment. We allude to the practice of sending convicted women for medical 
 examination after they have been permitted to pay the fines inflicted on them. 
 The power of ordering a woman for medical examination, and of holding judicial 
 investigations to that end, was not taken from the Registrar General when he 
 was deprived of his more general judicial powers ; but as two judicial investiga- 
 
 0.56. F tions 
 
42 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 tions into the same set of circumstances has been very reasonably deemed un- 
 necessary, the Registrar General has been accustomed to send the women for 
 medical examination upon the finding of the magistrate. The result, however, 
 has been that the women have received two sets of punishment, the one that 
 they dread infinitelv the more coming from the Registrar General. The law is 
 to blame for this anomalous state of things, but the law cannpt be blamed for 
 one distinct act of hardship which, according to the evidence of the interpreter, 
 Chearjg-a-Iu, the women have been subjected to in the carrying out of the law. 
 If he is to be beheved, " No woman is informed when she pays her fine that she 
 " is still liable to detention in the Lock Hospital. Many women only know 
 " this after the fine is paid. I have heard many women say, ' li' I had known 
 " ' that after paying the fine I should still have to be examined, I would not 
 " ' have paid.' " (Ans. 722 et seq.) Upon this point, Mr. Bedell Le Yuen also 
 says, " After the women had paid the tines I heard the interpreter to the 
 " inspectors say to the women, ' Come along with me;' and the women said, 
 " ' Where ' ? And he said, ' To hospital ;' and then the women would cry. 1 
 " think the going to hospital to be examined was a greater punishment to the 
 " women than being fined." We consider that to allow women to pay fines, 
 which they doubtless regarded as the price of their liberty, and then subject 
 them to further and still heavier punishment, has been to treat them with need- 
 less severity. 
 
 We have now considered the compulsory system which has been in force for 
 the last 20 years in various aspects. ' 
 
 Theextrerae gravity of the evils inseparable from it cannot be denied. The 
 question as to what, if to any extent has it been, or would its further continu- 
 ance be justified by results already obtained? That branch of the subject we 
 shall now proceed to discuss. 
 
 Sanitart Results. 
 
 In dealing with this part of our subject, we shall confine ourselves to an 
 endeavour to trace what connection there has been between the operation of the 
 brothel laws, and the effect upon venereal disease as shown by the medical 
 statistics at our disposal. We have received valuable assistance from Dr. 
 Wells and Dr. Max. Grant, to whom we submitted the whole of the printed 
 evidence, and whose opinions will be found in the Appendix at p. 3] 7 and 
 p. 318. 
 
 In the first place the brothel laws being very pecuHar, very drastic, and 
 weighted with very serious objections, ought, in our opinion, in order to justify 
 their existence, to show unmistakeable and progressive results, and their success 
 should have been manifested in certain very definite directions. We think it 
 should have been shown — 
 
 1. In a marked and progressive decrease year by year in the number of 
 unHcensed brothels, and in the amount of illicit prostitutes. 
 
 2. In unhcensed brothels being driven from the central and more 
 favourable parts of the city. 
 
 3. In a marked and progressive increase year by year in the number of 
 licensed brothels and the proportion of hcensed prostitutes to the 
 requirements of the place. 
 
 4. In a marked and progressive decrease year by year of disease amon^ 
 hcensed prostitutes, and in a corresponding immunity from infection 
 among the fi-equenters of hcensed houses. 
 
 5. In a marked and progressive decrease of venereal disease amonff men 
 treated m hospitals, the statistics of which are pubhshed. 
 
 We will briefly examine the evidence on each of these points, and, first, as to 
 the effect produced on the number of unhcensed brothels. 
 
 So far as the earlier Ordinance is concerned it is admitted that in dealing with 
 this grievance it was a failure. 
 
 In 1866 Dr. Murray, in a report of the 9th June, enumerated 145 houses of 
 this class, all of which he said were well known to the police, as against 32 
 
 brothels 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 43 
 
 brothels registered fbr the use of foreigners. " Besides these, which are actually 
 " well known," he said, " to the police, there must be a great many more houses 
 " frequented for immoral purposes. Again, almost every boat in the harbour, 
 " which carries passengers, is more or less a sailor's brothel." (Doct. No. 20, 
 Enclosure A, p. 214). Dr. Murray's estimate as to boat-women, Mr. Smith 
 thinks "too sweeping" (ans. p. 3^, but Dr. Adams, who possesses unequalled 
 opportunities, both as Health Officer of the Port and the possessor of a most 
 extensive private shipping practice, of forming a correct judgment, has told us that 
 ^" there is a great amount of disease spread among seamen by touts of washer- 
 " men who call themselves washerwomen. There are more of them in the 
 " harbour now, I think, than ever there were." (Ans. 1461-62, p. 35). 
 Mr. Lister is quite sure that during his tenure of office, the number of sly 
 brothels was diminished, but then he considered the town was in an exception- 
 ally and needlessly bad state when he took it over. (Ans. 148, p. 8.) 
 
 Mr. Smith, speaking as to Ihe houses mentioned by Dr. Murray, sees no 
 reason to doubt liis statistics or otherwise, but says, "There are not so many now. 
 " These women are very cunning, and it is quite impossible to form an 
 " estimate of their number . . . they get each time more difficult to 
 " convict." (Ans. 63, p. 4). The nuisance of the boatwomen, Mr. Smith 
 thinks, " reduced, but not suppressed." 
 
 Chief Inspector Whitehead finds it "impossible to say the number of 
 " unlicensed houses. There are numbers of them. They are in every street 
 " in the Colony." (Ans. 376, p. 14). According to his view, however, the 
 number of unlicensed houses has been decreasing. (Ans. 378, p. 14). 
 Inspector Lee tells us " There are a great many unlicensed brothels in the 
 " Colony. 1 think there is but very little difference in the number- one way or 
 " the other, since I joined the office {i. e., 1st November 1870). In almost 
 " every street there are unlicensed brothels either for Chinese or Europeans. 
 *' When an unlicensed brothel is broken up the women have to resort in most 
 " cases to prostitution for a living. (Ans. 424-5-6, p. 15)." 
 
 Mr. May is of opinion, that " there are thousands of women wl.ose husbands 
 " or protectors are away at sea, or at California, Atistralia, and other foreign 
 *' places. These women resort to a sort of sly prostitution for a living. They 
 " would be living in a sort of recognised concubinage or as prostitutes. 
 " I should say that only about one-sixth of the Chinese women in the Colony live 
 " with one man either in marriage or concubinage, and all the rest come under the 
 " denomination of prostitutes to whom money being offered they would consent to 
 " sexual intercourse:'' Finally, Mr. Pang-Ui-Shang, who was introduced to us 
 as a most respectable practitioner, and who certainly has had ample means 
 of forming conclusions on the subject, estimates the respectable women of 
 Hono- Kong at 25 per cent, of the female population (ans. 674, p. 20), and 
 states that as regards prostitution this Colony has an especially bad repu- 
 tation. (Ans. 679, p. 20). The census in 1876 gave the number of Chinese 
 women resident in this Colony at 24,387> and if the estimates of the two com- 
 petent judges whom we have just quoted are at all near the mark, the amount 
 of prostitution in the Colony must be enormous. The excessive disproportion 
 between the number of men and women resident in the Colony, the former 
 outnumbering the latter bv between three and four to one (there having been 
 81,025 Chinese men resident here in 1876), certainly argues the presence of a 
 widespread immorality, and affords strong presumptive corroboration of the 
 truth of the foregoing opinions. _ 
 
 The conclusion we therefore draw in pomt is, that there is no satisfactory 
 evidence that the amount of illicit prostitution in the Colony has been reduced, 
 and that there is ample reason to beheve that it is very great in extent, and 
 exceeds many times over that which has been brought under regulation. 
 
 That unlicensed houses have never been successfully driven from the central 
 and more favourable localities of the city, is sufficiently shown by Tables Nos. 41, 
 42 and 43, which appear at pages 295 and 296 of the Appendix. 
 
 Turning to point 3, we regret that we have not been able to obtain complete 
 returns shewing the average number of women registered each year for the use 
 of foreigners since the earlier Ordinance came into force. 
 
 We learn from Dr. Murray that in 1866 about 32 houses and 250 women 
 came under the cognizance of the Colonial Surgeon (Doct. No. 20, Enclosure A, 
 
 214) and the following return compiled at our instance from the books of 
 ^'056.' ^2 ^^« 
 
44 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 the Lock Hospital gives the number of women examined at the Hospital 
 in the last week of December, in each year, from J 867 to 1877 inclusive. 
 As all the registered women are examined weekly, the returns probably show 
 with approximate accuracy the number of women on the register at the end of 
 each year : — 
 
 1867 -------- 192 
 
 1868 -------- 182 
 
 1869 - - - - - - 293 
 
 1870 - - - - - - - - - 312 
 
 1871 --------- 302 
 
 1872 --------- 333 
 
 1873 - - - - - - - 276 
 
 1874 - - - ----- 217 
 
 1875 --------- 226 
 
 1876 - - - ----- 245 
 
 1877 - - - - - - - - 221 
 
 On the 31st October 1877? there were 226 women on the register occupying 
 38 brothels for foreigners. (Doct, No. 1, p. 262).. 
 
 Document No. 17 (Appendix, p. 267), gives a hst of the number of brothels 
 for Europeans from 1868 to 1877 inclusive. 
 
 These two Tables prove that from 1867 to 1872, a tendency was shewn 
 towards an increase in the numbers of such registered women, while from the latter 
 year to the end of 1877 there has been an almost progressive decline in their 
 numbers ; and that the amount of brothels which rose from 40 in 1868 to 56 
 in 1870, declined rapidly from 53 in 1873, to 44 in 1874, and once more stood 
 at 40 in 1877. 
 
 The causes cf the failure of the law to make greater effect on the numbers 
 of licensed and unlicensed prostitutes respectively are not, we think, far to 
 seek. The matter is one which is mainly regulated by the law of supply and 
 demand. 
 
 Mr. Smith, in writing on this point has " little hesitation in stating his opinion 
 " that if prosecutions for keeping unHcensed brothels were not enforced, in time, 
 " and that not long, all licensed houses would be closed. It is difficult," he says 
 " to see any grounds upon which any keeper would retain a Hcense, because 
 " almost without exception both keepers and inmates object to the medical 
 " examination, which is the cardinal point of the legislation. From such ex- 
 " perience as I possess, there is, 1 think, no doubt that it is fear of prosecution 
 " alone which induces persons to take out licenses." (Doct. No. 2, para. 12 
 p. 313). Being asked to reconsider this opinion. Mr. Smith in his further 
 letter of June 4th, adhered to his views. (Doct. No. 6, p. 315). 
 
 This opinion of Mr. Smith's is beyond question entitled to great weight, but 
 in giving it, he has, we think, lost sight of one or two important considerations 
 In the first place with respect to inmates of licensed brothels, to whom, as weli 
 as to keepers, our question referred (Document No. 1, para. 6, p. 3 12),' it must 
 be borne in mind that there were no means provided by the law of' 1857 of 
 compelUng them to enter hcensed houses, by prosecution, and yet, as we have 
 seen, the number of such women under the two Ordinances have, not materiallv 
 differed, and in 1877 the number of licensed prostitutes was about the same as 
 m loo/, ' 
 
 It has also to be borne in mind that during the whole of 1858 there were no 
 prosecutions for keeping unregistered houses at all, and that such charges were 
 
 "nlhrSetf'Iseo!"'''^ ''^'"' """^'^ ^"^ '"'P'''"' "^ ^'"*^'^' ^"^ ^PP'^i^t^'i 
 On this point, too, we think that the evidence of Mr. BedeU Le Y,iPn 
 (answers 789 to 812 inclusive, p. 23) is entitled to more weight than Mr Srnith 
 seemsdisposed to accord to it. According to Mr. Bedell, who, in his canS 
 of mterpreter, had special means of observation, a system was estaWished bv 
 the Commissioners during the joint occupation of Canton by the En -lis h and 
 French Forces whereby about 150 women occupying 10 brothels%ecame 
 subject to periodical medical examination. Mr. Bedell's account affords rZlhU 
 evidence that at any rate in Canton the system was to a certain exten possMe 
 without the assistance of compulsory methods. pos>siDie 
 
 The 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 45 
 
 The truth seems to be that there are women, and those of a very low, if not 
 of the lowest, class, whom the keepers of licensed houses for foreigners can 
 obtain by means known to themselves, probably through their dire necessities, 
 who are willing to face the terrors of the medical examination, or for whom 
 the examination has ceased to have terror, and there are certain classes of men 
 willing to associate with such women. Specially energetic action, such as that 
 instituted by Mr. Lister in 1868 and 1869, may have the effect of compelling 
 other classes of women to enter licensed houses ; but we feel as little disposed 
 to attribute the increase of licensed houses for foreigners from 40 in 1868 to 
 55 in 1869, to the compulsory powers of the Act, as we do the decrease from 
 53 of such brothels in 1873 to 44 in 1874, and 39 in 1875, to these powers 
 having been negligently executed. The truth seems to be that the unlicensed 
 houses prove more attractive than the regular establishments, and that the 
 women command better prices. Other difficulties there doubtless are in the 
 way of the enforcement of the law : but the simple one we have mentioned, in 
 our opinion, underlies the whole question, and has been in itself sufficient to 
 neutralize all the efforts of the authorities. {See Ans. 1,463, p. 36, 1,417, 
 p. 35). 
 
 Disease among Men in Public Hospitals. 
 
 Not having been able to obtain any returns showing the state of venereal 
 disease in the Colony before Ordinance 12 of 1857 came into force, we are not 
 in a position to compare the state of things which existed before and subsequent 
 to 1858. The letters from the Naval Medical Authorities and the Colonial 
 Surgeon contain deplorable accounts of the health of the men under their 
 charge. On the other hand, Mr. May, who was then in charge of the police 
 force, has told us that "before the Ordinance 12 of 1857, with respect to the 
 " police, we had no great cause to complain." His "attention was certainly 
 " not drawn to any very special virulence in the nature of the venereal disease, 
 " either by fact or by any person. lam sure," he said, "if there had been 
 " such material amount of venereal, &c., so as to interfere with police duties, or 
 "if there had been many cases of death from venereal, 1 should have 
 
 " recollected 1 am certain, so far as the police are concerned, I did 
 
 " not find the disease a crying evil. I am certain of this because my own 
 " personal conviction was in opposition to the Ordinance, and this would not 
 ■ ' have been the case had there been so much disease." [kns. 264 to 267, 
 
 * " Hong Kong at the time," he added, " was very much crowded with sailors 
 " and soldiers, they used to send a large portion, and I believe half a ship's 
 " company, from different ships on shore on the same day, and it gave rise to 
 " drunkenness, riots, and occasional contests with the numerically small police 
 " we had. The seamen were sent on shore with the belief they would all get 
 " drunk, and I beheve, they pretty fairly carried out that object." 
 
 We cannot find any recorded complaints as to the amount or nature of this 
 disease, at this time, among the Military forces. 
 
 The statistical returns, which have been furnished to us, throw but little 
 light on the working of the earlier Ordinance of 1857- Document No. 9 
 (p 264), kindly furnished to us by the Deputy Inspector General, shows the 
 number of admissions for syphilis and gonorrKcea in the Hospital Ships and 
 the Royal Naval Hospital for 20 years past, but as we have failed to obtain any 
 returns of the strength of the Naval Forces in harbour until 1870, and as more- 
 over we presume, that the hghter case's were treated on board the vessel to 
 which the infected men belonged, the record is of little value for comparative 
 Durposes It is to be observed, however, that very considerable fluctuation in 
 the amount of syphilis occurred year by year, and that the number of cases 
 treated which had fallen by gradual stages from 98 in 1860 to 58 and 61 in 
 1863 and 1864, suddenly sprang up again to 98 in 1865, and dropped as 
 suddenly to 68 in 1866, and to 45 in 1867- -,, ,r, « , w. f 
 
 It is somewhat curious to compare these figures with the first letter of com- 
 plaint which reached the Government after the Ordinance came into operation. 
 This letter which is dated 27th October 1866, is written by the surgeon in 
 pharee of the Royal Naval Hospital, and points out that " many of the patients 
 "admitted into this hospital have been suffering from the most virulent forms 
 " of svphilis which will impair their constitutions, &c., and that the system 
 "authorised'" in November 1857, " was attended with the most evident and 
 
 ^ ' F q " admirable 
 
 0,56. "^ ^ 
 
46 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 " admirable results, as the disease had almost disappeared from Hong Kong 
 " and the bulk of the cases admitted into the Royal Naval Hospital "as con- 
 " tracted in the northern ports." It is even still more curious to note that, as 
 shewn by' the records, the compulsory powers of the Ordinance were, at the 
 time this letter was written, and for some time previous hiid been, worked with 
 very considerable energy, whereas in the earlier days but comparatively little 
 attention had been paid to them. We are bound, however, to add that in no 
 returns can we find evidence of that almost total disappearance of syphilis 
 which the writer alluded to- It is certain those from the Army tell a different 
 tale. 
 
 The returns at our disposal showing the amount of venereal disease in Hong 
 Konj^ among the military force, do not become of much statistical value till 
 1866, as up to that year they include other places in China besides Hong Kong, 
 and it is difficult to tell what amount of disease can properly be attributed to 
 the latter port. We find, however, on referring to Appendix No 2 to the 
 Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, certain tabulated 
 returns showing the distribution of the troops in the China command on the 
 1st day of January for each year from 1857 to 1866, which serve to throw some 
 light on the matter (p. 224 of that Report, et seq.). 
 
 For instance, out of 4,470 troops serving on the 1st January 1857, in China, 
 there would only appear to have been about 928 stationed in Hong Kong, the 
 remainder being at Canton. Of these about 700 were European, and the re- 
 mainder Indian troops. In this year the amount of venereal among white 
 troops amounted to 34"71 per cent. (/See Enclosure B., p. 221). 
 
 In 1860 and 1861, the percentage of disease to strength among white troops 
 rose to 49-31 and 51*09 (p. 221), but in the former year there were only about 
 570 white and 282 black troops, and in the latter about 1,049 white and 1,000 
 black on the 1st January stationed in Hong Kong, the remainder being in 
 Canton. It is, however, not unimportant to note that during the years which 
 showed these exceptionally bad results a system of protection was in force in 
 Canton. {See Mr. Bedell Le Yuen's Evidence, Ans. 789 to 812, p. 23). 
 
 By the 1st January 1862, the troops had been entirelv withdrawn from 
 Canton, and out of 4,999 about 2,000, or less, were stationed "in Hong Kong and 
 Kowloon, the remainder being chiefly at Tientsin, Taku, Pekin, and Shanghai. 
 The returns for this year, as given by Dr. Hardie (p. 22 1 ), do not include the 
 troops in North China, so that in Hong Kong, in 1862, it must be taken it 
 would seem that the percentage of admissions for diseases to strength among 
 white troops amounted to 43"78. 
 
 On the 1st January 1863, there were 4,463 troops in China, all but about 
 1,332, which were in Hong Kong, being on that day in the north. lu that year 
 in the south of China, that is to say in I long Kong, according to Dr. Hardie's 
 table, the percentage of admission J or venereal among white troops had fallen to 
 2 2-96. 
 
 In 1864, there were in China 4,082 troops on the 1st January, of which about 
 2,146 were in Hong Kong. In that year the percentage of venereal disease for 
 both North and South China was 23-61. 
 
 In 1865, til ere being on the 1st January 4,266 troops in China, of whom 
 about 1,694 were in Hong Kong, the percentage of admissions to strength 
 amounted, accordmg to the returns forwarded to us by the principal medical 
 officer, to 24-13. This we understand to apply to the whole of China (See 
 Documents No. 44, Appendix, p. 297, and No. 45, Report, p 36) 
 
 From 1 866 onwards the returns apply solely to Hong Kong, and we find in that 
 year the percentage of admissions to strength rising to 29-92 and in 1867 
 falling to 11-34. ^ , * u m joo/, 
 
 During all these years the percentages of admissions to strength aoion- the 
 Indian forces had been by comparison singularly low. In 1861, indeed, when it 
 had touched among the Europeans the extraordinary figures of 61-09 it stood 
 among the Indians at 6-83. ' 
 
 On turning now to the Tables, which we have extracted from the - Govern- 
 rnent^Ga.ette, for the three Civil Hospitals, viz., the Government Civil HospitTl 
 the Seamen s Hospital and the Gaol, for, the above 10 years (we do no go 
 back earlier than 858, because it was only in that year that seamen infectfd 
 with venereal could for the first time be removed to hospital by warrant under 
 the hand of the harbour master (sec. XVH. of 1 2, of 1857 ; Documents Nos 20 
 to 29 inclusive, at page 270 et seq.), it will be seen that In therthre; Vnstitu. 
 
 tions 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 
 
 47 
 
 tions the returns of primary syphilis from year to year, kept tolerably steady. 
 We observe, however, that the number of admissions for this disease which had 
 been 87 in 1858, had risen to 133 in 1865, and that in 1867 the admissions for 
 all kinds of venereal disease were 255, of which 84 were for primary, and 41 
 for secondary syphilis. There were for gonorrhoea, the highest number of ad- 
 missions then hitherto known, viz., 93 (No. 29, p. 276). That disease had been 
 increasing year by year with considerahle steadiness. 
 
 The Annual Reports of the Colonial Surgeon during this period are somewhat 
 instructive. For instance, in that for 1862, Dr. Murray expressed himself 
 " completely satisfied with the incalculable benefit, that had resulted to the 
 " Colony from the Ordinance," and ill confirmation of iiis opinion, he quotes 
 the chief military and naval medical authorities. In 1865, he wrote " that the 
 "good the Ordinance does is undoubted, but the good it might do were all un- 
 " licensed brothels suppressed was incalculable." (No. 27, p- 274). In 1867, 
 the public were informed that the Ordinance had been " on trial for- nearly 10 
 " years and had done singular services." In an official report, however, dated 
 the 19th April 1867 (App., Doc. 25, p. 220), not intended for publication. 
 Dr. Murray stated : — 
 
 " That venereal disease has been on the increase in spite of all that has 
 " been done to check it is no new discovery ; it has alr^eady been brought before 
 " the notice of his Excellency, and is a powerful argument in favour of additional 
 " legislation." 
 
 It is also not without interest to compare the remarks penned by Dr. Bernard, 
 Deputy Inspector General of Hospitals and Fleets, published by Dr. Murray in 
 his report for 1876, with those of Surgeon Newton which we have already 
 quoted. Surgeon Newton, it will be remembered, complains that towards the 
 end of 1 866 many of his patients contracted the most virulent form of syphilis. 
 Dr. Bernard on the other part states, " I am enabled to say that true syphilis 
 
 no\^' rarely contracted by our men in Hong Kong." (Document No. 29, 
 
 IS 
 
 Appendix, p. 276). Dr. Bernard, however, seems after a longer e.xperience of 
 the Colofiy very much to have modified this opinion. {See letter from Dr. 
 Murray, 22nd December 1858, para. 6, Appendix, p. 252). 
 
 We next proceed to consider returns of disease published since Ordinance 10 
 of 1867 came into operation. On turning to those for the Navy we notice that 
 the number of syphilis admissions to hospital rose from 45 in 1S67, to 75 in 
 1868, and after a fall to 69 in 1869, amounted to 91 in 1870- (Document 
 No. 9, Appendix, p. 264). In this year the colonial surgeon began to issue, 
 by way of Appendix to his Annual Reports, tables in a form not hitherto in use, 
 and from these we learn that the total number of seamen venereally diseased 
 during the year admitted to the naval hospital amounted to 213 {see Appendix B., 
 p. 281), therefore as the average number of seamen in port for that year 
 amounted to 781 per month (Appendix B., p. 281), the percentage of the 
 diseased to strength of that year would be about 27'27. Dr. Pottinger, the 
 Deputy Inspector General, however, writes in this year that, judging from his 
 own experience, he would say that syphiUs had all but disappeared from the 
 Colony. (No. 32, Appendix, p. 280). 
 
 Taking in the first instance the figures given in the Appendices to the Colonial 
 Surgeon's Reports from 1871 to 1877, and comparing the admissions with the 
 mean strength of the Naval forces in harbour, we find the following results : — 
 
 1871 
 1872 
 1873 
 1874 
 1875 
 1876 
 1877 
 
 Yeak. 
 
 Strength. 
 
 Admissions. 
 
 Percentage. 
 
 ... 
 
 893 
 
 155 
 
 17-35 
 
 _ _ - - 
 
 578 
 
 87 
 
 14-54 
 
 . ■ - - 
 
 364 
 
 79 
 
 21-70 
 
 _ _ - - 
 
 314 . 
 
 85 
 
 27-07 
 
 . . - * 
 
 684 
 
 177 
 
 25-87 
 
 _ - - - 
 
 610 
 
 147 
 
 24-09 
 
 - - - 
 
 890 
 
 230 
 
 25-84 
 
 0.56. 
 
 F 4 
 
 Taking 
 
48 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 Taking next the figures shewing the amount of ^J^hilitic cases o„ly^^^^^^^ 
 returns forwarded to us hy Dr. Wells, and comparing them with the meanstrengtri 
 of the Naval forces in Port, we find the following results:— 
 
 Year. 
 
 1870 
 1871 
 1872 
 1873 
 1874 
 1875 
 1876 
 1877 
 
 , Admissions 
 
 Strength. ^^^ Syphilis. 
 
 781 
 
 91 
 
 893 
 
 52 
 
 587 
 
 46 
 
 364 
 
 48 
 
 314 
 
 48 
 
 684 
 
 58 
 
 610 
 
 44 
 
 890 • 
 
 47 
 
 Percentage. 
 
 11-53 
 5-82 
 7-69 
 13-18 
 15-28 
 8-48 
 7-21 
 5-28 
 
 It will be observed tliat in the above two tables we have made no allowance 
 for the deductions invariably claimed in the "Government returns for the cases 
 stated not to have been contracted in Hong Kong. We have done so for two 
 reasons. In the first place, we think it must be assumed that as regards the 
 Navy many cases of disease contracted here are treated elsewhere. In the 
 second place, we think that there is very great difficulty in ascertaining from 
 men where disease has been actually contracted. 
 
 The Military returns for ;the thirteen years from 1865 to 1877 inclusive, give 
 the following percentages : — 
 
 
 
 No. 
 
 45. 
 
 
 
 
 Yeaii. 
 
 Whites. 
 
 
 Blacks. 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Strength. 
 
 Admissions. 
 
 Percentage. 
 
 Strength. 
 
 Admissions. 
 
 Percentage. 
 
 1865 
 
 1,674 
 
 404 
 
 24-13 
 
 354 
 
 45 
 
 12-71 
 
 1866 
 
 849 
 
 254 
 
 27-92 
 
 286 
 
 47 
 
 16-43 
 
 1867 
 
 723 
 
 82 
 
 11-34 
 
 425 
 
 47 
 
 11-06 
 
 1868 
 
 668 
 
 112 
 
 16-77 
 
 691 
 
 29 
 
 4-19 
 
 1869 
 
 577 
 
 97 
 
 16-81 
 
 895 
 
 13 
 
 1-45 
 
 1870 
 
 546 
 
 68 
 
 12-45 
 
 846 
 
 14 
 
 1-65 
 
 1871 
 
 516 
 
 93 
 
 18-02 
 
 936 
 
 17 
 
 1.81 
 
 187-2 
 
 769 
 
 151 
 
 19-63 
 
 354 
 
 36 
 
 10-17 
 
 1873 . - - 
 
 975 
 
 160 
 
 16-41 
 
 81 
 
 18 
 
 22-22 
 
 1874 
 
 947 
 
 59 
 
 6-23 
 
 72 
 
 10 
 
 13-88 
 
 1875 
 
 922 
 
 64 
 
 6-94 
 
 66 
 
 23 
 
 34-85 
 
 1876 
 
 919 
 
 79 
 
 8-59 
 
 64 
 
 12 
 
 26-56 
 
 1877 
 
 996 
 
 117 
 
 11-75 
 
 86 
 
 17 
 
 19-77 
 
 It will be noticed that the percentage of admissions to strength was nearly 
 the same in 1867 as in 1877, being 11-34 for the former year as against ir75 
 for the latter ; and that for the last five years while the numerical strength of 
 the black troops has been very low, the percentage of disease among European 
 has ranged quite extraordinarily high. 
 
 In 1872, Deputy Inspector General Crocker, Principal Medical Ofiicer, made 
 it a subject of formal complaint that a large number of men in proportion to 
 the strength of the garrison was suffering from "various forms" of venereal 
 disease. (Document No. 62, Enclosure A, p. 243) ; and again in 1873 we 
 found another report from the same authority as to the great prevalence of 
 venereal diseases amongst the men of the 80th Regiment (Document No. 68 
 Enclosure A, p. 245). " ' 
 
 The pohce returns apparently shew the most marked improvement in 
 
 decrease 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 49 
 
 decrease of venereal disease, the number of admissions having fallen from 84 
 in 1870 and in 1871, to 36 in 1874, and 22 in 1877, while the numerical 
 strength of the force during these years remained pretty constant. 
 
 But then, as we learn from Mr. Deane and Mr. Creagh, there are many cir- 
 cumstances tending to qualify any opinions which might be formed in the 
 statistics of the health of the poUce force. In the first place we find that on 
 the 7th April 1873, the compulsory medical examination of the persons of 
 constables was aboUshed, and that a great decrease in the number of admissions 
 to hospital took place. (Ans. 1,507, p. 36rt, and Document No. 4.*), p. 297). 
 We also find that many constables are now treated by private practitioners. 
 (Ans. 1,508, p. 36a.) Again, it has to be remembered that since 1873 Chinese 
 have composed more than half the force (Ans. 195, p. 10), whom the Ordinance 
 does not affect at all. The material of the force has been improved, and there 
 is a standing rule that no policeman may enter any brothel without authority, 
 and then only on duty. (Ans. 197, p. 10). "The Europeans do not," Mr. 
 Creagh thinks, " break this rule much " (Ans. 199), while the Mahomedans who 
 compose a great part of the Indian contingent for reasons of religion or caste, 
 in Mr. Creagh's opinion " keep chaste as a rule." (Ans. 204, 206, p. 10). 
 
 The number of cases in the Civil and .VJerchant Seamen's Hospitals showed a 
 marked decrease in 1871, having fallen from 213 in 1868 and 274 in 1870 (or 
 as shown by another return 334) to 99 in 1871, since which time they have 
 usually ranged at a lower level than before. In 1877 there were only Q7 of 
 such cases. Table No. 10 (p. 264), shows the number of seamen who have 
 been annually sent by the harbour master to the Government Civil Hospital, 
 under Ordinance 10 of 1867, for treatment. It is noticeable that so far as 
 these figures are concerned they seem scarcely to correspond with, or account 
 for, the great fluctuations in the returns of admissions tor venereal disease in 
 the hospitals just referred to. Both in 1868 and 1869 there were 33 of such 
 patients. In 1870 the number leapt up to 101, fell in 1871 to 53, to 19 in 
 1872, and rose to 48, 47, and 44 during the last three years respectively. 
 
 But we are bound to say that the returns showing: the admissions to the 
 Government Civil Hospital for venereal complaints strike us as having, with 
 regard to the working of the Ordinance, scarcely any appreciable statistical 
 value : for there are no means of deciding what relation they bear to the actual 
 state of disease existing in the colony. As regards seafaring men under the 
 present conditions of commerce their significance must be all but nil, for the 
 greater part of the carrying trade has for the last few years been passing, and 
 has now chiefly passed to steamers, whose stay in port rarely exceeds two or 
 three dnys. Under such conditions the chances are that in the bulk of cases 
 treated here the disease has been contracted elsewhere, and that a man infected 
 here has left the port before he has made the discovery of his condition. On 
 this point Dr. Adams says, " we expect a chancre to devolve itself after three 
 weeks, but it might come on in a week." Moreover, passenger steamers carry 
 their own surgeons ; and it is the practice for such vessels as are not so pro- 
 vided to retain the services of a medical man while in harbour, so that much 
 venereal disease is probably treated on board. Besides it would appear that 
 many Europeans of the lower classes prefer to resort to Chinese doctors for 
 treatment. Mr. Pang-Ui-Shang, who was introduced to the Commission as a 
 man of good standing in his class, told us that he is in the habit of treating no 
 less than 100 Europeans syphilitic patients in the course of each year, and that 
 other Chinese practitioners probably have altogether as many more — gonorrhoea, 
 chancre, and bubo. (Ans. 638 to 640, p. 19). 
 
 We think, therefore, that the only statistics likely to even approximately 
 represent the truth are those of the Army and Navy. In these we cannot 
 read those signa of a systematic and progressive decrease in the amount of 
 disease which we think can alone indicate the beneficial operation of the 
 Ordinance. On the contrary, we find generally in the figures fluctuations so 
 great as to admit of no hypothesis being built upon them ; while in the returns 
 for the Navy there has been, as regards venereal disease generally, a decided 
 tendency, on the whole, to an increase since the year 1871. 
 
 We now come to consider the evidence as to the immunity from disease 
 Tnhich licensed brothels afford to their frequenters. This is a question of great 
 importance. Ever since brothel legislation came into operation in this colony, 
 it has been the practice to attribute the continued prevalence of disease to 
 
 0.56. G illicit 
 
50 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 illicit prostitution, and indeed the amended Ordinance of 1867 proceeded on 
 this assumption. The Annual Medical Reports have again and again dilated on 
 the evils arising from this circumstance; and we find in the last volume of the 
 health of the Navy Reports which has yet come to our hands (that of 1876), it 
 is stated with reference to the China station that " many other medical officers 
 " bear similar testimony to the large amount of illicit prostitution in places 
 " where Contagious Diseases Acts are in force, and attribute a great proportion 
 " of the venereal disease that produces so much loss of health and loss to the 
 " daily strength of the crews of the ships to this source." 
 
 As regards the amount of disease existing in unhcensed houses in this 
 colony, there seems to us to be absolutely no evidence worthy of the name. 
 Table No. 15 (p. 266), shows that for the last 10 years not more than 198 
 unhcensed prostitutes have been admitted into the Lock Hospital; and of these 
 198 women a great proportion, though it is impossible to say how great, came 
 from houses resorted to only by Chinese. Ninety of these women were tried 
 and convicted by Mr. Lister," and with respect to the cases he heard, Mr. Lister 
 himself has given the following evidence: "I said to my inspector, Petersen, 
 " ' Don't bring me another case unless you can show me that a European has 
 " been admitted into the house ; ' he said in a very discouraged manner ' We 
 " ' shall not get any convictions.' I said, ' I do not care if we get no 
 " convictions' " 
 
 Again to judge frorn the tables published since the year 1870, as Appendices 
 to the Colonial Surgeon's Annual Reports, and which we reprint (App. pp. 281 , 
 284, 288, 289, 294), it does not strike us that the proportion of women found 
 diseased to those apprehended, is by any means great. For instance, in 1871, 
 out of 43 women arrested but four were found diseased. (Appendix F., p. 284). 
 In 1872, out of 135 women arrested but 18 were found diseased. (Appendix F., 
 p. 286). In 1873, out of 77 women apprehended but 8 were found diseased. 
 (Appendix F., p. 288). The highest percentage was, so far as the returns 
 show, in 1875, when out of 19 arrests 9 defendants were found diseased (No. 
 37, Appendix A., p. 289), the accuracy of which, however, is open to doubt. 
 
 The admissions of these 198 women to hospital, and the temporary increase 
 in the numbers of the inmates of the licensed houses during the first years 
 after Ordinance 10 of 1867 came into force, seem to us to form the measure 
 of the difference between the operation of that enactment, and the earlier one 
 of 1857. 
 
 But while the amount of disease propagated by unregistered prostitutes 
 remains wrapped in obscurity; we have material before us testifying to the 
 great danger of infection which lurks in licensed houses. Appendix Xl«., p, 
 292, shows in a compendious form the admissions to the Lock Hospital since 
 its institution 20 years ago ; all these admissions, with the exception of the 
 198 from unlicensed houses just now mentioned, are shown as having come from 
 registered and licensed institutions. 
 
 From 1858 to 1865, we have no information which enables us to compare 
 the average number of registered women with the admissions to hospital, 
 but we find that during those years the admissions rose from 124 in 1858 to 485 
 in 1862. 
 
 In 1866, Dr. Murray has told us that there were about 280 registered women 
 for foreigners, and we find that in that vear, 406 were diseased. From that 
 time the admissions rose by rapid steps, until in 1870 we find that there were 
 722 admissions as against 312 registered women ; that is to say, over 200 per 
 cent, had become infected. 
 
 Disease which in this. year seems to have touched its zenith, again declined 
 till from 600 in 1873, it rapidly dropped to 345 in 1874 and 134 in 1875, from 
 which there has once more been a slight rise. At the same time, as we have 
 seen, the number of women have also very much decreased year by year 
 
 Now apart from other reasons to be presently mentioned, we think that one 
 otthe causes of this rise and decline in disease is identical with that which 
 governs the corresponding increase and decrease in the number of reo-istered 
 inmates, viz., the waxing or waning popularity of the licensed houses ° 
 
 ihe more men attend these houses, and the more men the women can 
 accommodate, the greater chance is there of disease being propagated; and as 
 a woman is only examined once a week, and she may be infected directly after 
 
 her 
 
CONTAGIOirS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 51 
 
 her examination, she has time and probably opportunity to spread infection 
 before being segregated. 
 
 In some of the lowest of the Uceiised brothels, as for instance those in 
 Ship-street at the east end of the town which are chiefly frequented by soldiers, 
 and are placed where they are for their special use, women would seem to make 
 their living chiefly by mere casual accommodation, and the price being very 
 low the women must, in order to enable the houses to be kept up^ associate with 
 a great number of men. Some of the women have spoken of entertaining four 
 or five men in the 24 hours. (Ans. 831 and 937). Inspector Whitehead says, 
 I' m Ship-street, that is practically were the soldiers have to go, the women are 
 " the refuse of other brothels. Although some of them are upwards of 40 years 
 "old, they are greatly resorted to, the place being pretty well crowded by. 
 1^ soldiers up to nine p.m. every day. The women in Ship-street," he adds, " are 
 "greatly abused. In my opinion they have over-communication. These 
 " women would take 10 cents." (Ans. .320 and 328, p. 13). Inspector Grey, 
 who has charge of the police-station in the immediate neighbourhood, and who 
 made some inquiry into this point at our instance, has said that on an average 
 the 15 women residing in the four houses in Ship-street, are visited by 100 
 Europeans in a week. (Document 18, p. 267). Under such circumstances it 
 is manifest that one woman being diseased miijht form the centre of a very 
 wide circle of infection. For this reason it strikes us, that if Hcensed houses 
 really at all answer their purpose and attract men, they must become sources of 
 peculiar danger, and that the danger ceases only in proportion as they cease to 
 answer their purpose. 
 
 There is also the increased danger of the over-abuse of women in such 
 houses, and of women being forced to entertain men, whether they wish it or 
 not, by the keepers. The keepers naturally deny this, but we hesitate to 
 accept their denial on the point. Such over-abuse is in itself said to be a 
 cause of disease. (Dr. Ayres, Ans. 1,431, p. 35). We think that both these 
 dangers would be sensibly diminished by the women being spread over a wider 
 area. 
 
 Very little direct evidence on the whole has been obtained by the authorities 
 from the infected men themselves as to the places where, or the women from 
 whom, they had taken the infection, for although among other erroneous 
 anticipations connected with the inception of brothel legislation it was predicted 
 that " information aS to house and- locality could be readily obtained from the 
 " men who contracted disease " (letterof Surgeon Whitmore Clarke, No. 8, p. 206), 
 the experience of those who have had to administer the law has been quite the 
 other way. There have been very few cases within the recollection of Mr. 
 Smith, " where^ Europeans have volunteered to come forward to complain of 
 " being infected ; although," he adds, " there are cases occurring every week 
 " among soldiers and seamen who refuse to point out the houses : there have been 
 "many cases in which they have pointed out the wrong house. They have- 
 " pointed out a house the inmates of which had been examined just the day 
 " before, and declared free from disease by the doctor, and'they were examined 
 " immediately afterwards and found free from disease." (Ans. 57, p, 3). That 
 this fact, however, affords conclusive proof that the wrong house was pointed 
 out cannot, we think, be conceded in toto. 
 
 Mr. Lister found the same difficulty as Mr. Smith in inducing men to point 
 out the house, " It seemed a principal of honour not to do so." (Ans. 96, p. 5, 
 and Ans. 134, p. 7). Mr. Tonnochy has expressed substantially the same 
 opinion. (Document No. 64, p. 244). 
 
 During the 20 years of the operations of the brothel laws, it is therefore not 
 surprising to find that, so far as we at least can discover, only 37 prosecutions 
 against women for infecting men have been instituted ; 33 having been against 
 inmates of registered houses, and four against unlicensed prostitutes ; one of 
 the latter being a kept mistress (case 19 of 1872, p. 100), one a native woman 
 of Singapore (case 10 of 1872, p. 119), and one a blind singing woman (case 
 
 No 23 of 1875, p. 170). 
 
 Many of the cases broke down and many were trumped up, and as a whole 
 they are therefore of little or, no statistical value. But it is not so easy to 
 dispose of the concurrent testimony against the Ship-street houses, contained 
 in 15 cases appended to the complaints, of the military medical authorities at 
 the end of 1872 and the earlier part of 1873. In 10 out of the 15 recorded 
 
 Q eg^ G a instances 
 
53 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 instances (pp. 247 to 249), the men indicated the licensed houses as the sources 
 of contagion, and they might well be right in that, and at the same time wrong. 
 as to the actual woman with whom they had slept. 
 
 But the most important direct evidence on this point is, that of Ur. Adams, 
 who said : " The great majority of the men who are diseased, more than 90 per 
 " cent., tell me they get the disease in Ucensed brothels, where, as the men say, 
 " the women bring a board with the names and dates when they were last examined. 
 " I believe they are teUing' the truth, they have no object in concealing it. 
 " The men who complain of being diseased in the licensed houses, are chiefly 
 «' diseased with gonorrhoea. I have often heard the men say, that in going mto a 
 "licensed house they thought they were going into a place which was safe. 
 "They regard the number, i.e., the number of the house placed over the door, 
 " to. show that it is a licensed brothel, as a Government stamp of safety." 
 (Ans. 1469 to 1472, p. 36). ,.,,,, 
 
 To conclude, therefore, we think that while it is likely that there is a good 
 deql of disease coming from illicit houses, such evidence as there is on the subject 
 points much more strongly tu the regular establishments as the sources of 
 contagion among both naval and military forces, and we cannot agree with the 
 reasoning of the present Colonial Surgeon on this part of the subject when 
 substantially reiterating what he had recorded in his annual Report for 1874 
 (Document 6, p. 288), he wrote towards the end of 1877 : " The police being 
 '•' the least changeable force in the Colony, having more freedom and a better 
 "knowledge of the town shows the working of the Ordinance to the best 
 " advantage. Next to them, come the soldiers who have less freedom, and when 
 " on leave are very often drunk, who also know less of the manner to 
 "evade the Ordinance. And last come the 33 seamen who for the same 
 " reasons as the soldiers are more liable to contract disease." {See also Ans, 
 1441, p. 35). 
 
 In our view, the process of stating the case should be altogether reversed. 
 
 With respect to the police, we have already sufficiently seen how strong are 
 the reasons for regarding the statistics concerning them as worth but little ; and 
 as regards seamen, we think that, as the licensed houses are indicated plainly 
 enough both by day and night, and their occupants have been permitted to 
 solicit custom, strangers are much more likely, in oar opinion, to find their way 
 into unlicensed brothels, which are not only not easy to discover, but which seem 
 to require, as a rule, the formality of an introduction. 
 
 It seems to us that soldiers, who are resident here, have much more oppor- 
 tunity of establishing relations with sly prostitutes than sea-faring men who 
 casually visit this Port, and the higher ratio of disease which has been main- 
 tained among the Royal Navy than among the military forces does not therefore 
 tell in favour of the licensing system. One more difficulty points itself to our 
 attention. 
 
 Dr. Murray in his annual report for 1865 wrote that he was certain that very 
 few cases of disease were contracted in the licensed houses from their nominal 
 inmates (No. 27, p. 275). He of course meant that the nominal inmates might, 
 when occasion required, be supplement-^d by unregistered women from outside; 
 and indeed we fail to see what there is in the Government system to prevent this 
 evasion of rules being carried out to any extent deemed desirable. Chief 
 Inspector Whitehead explained to us the plan of inspection. " I visit," he said 
 " every foreign house once a week and sometimes go a second time to some of 
 " them. I don't walk through all the rooms. The women sit in a sitting room, 
 " and I call the names out from the board. I don't go through the rooms if I 
 " see the women sitting in their sitting room." Such supervision is probably the 
 only kind possible, but as against evasions such as those above suggested, it is 
 manifestly all but useless. 
 
 Modification of Type of Disease. 
 
 We observe that although the disease with which men become infected here 
 has been generally maintained to be due chiefly to infection by unregistered 
 women, who are not affected by the Ordinance, modification in the type of 
 disease l^as been so often somewhat inconsequentially ascribed to its operation. 
 
 6frJune^878 SIt") ^ ^^^^' ^* ^^^' ^"""^ ^'^ ^"^'^ Grant's letter of 
 
 Whether 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 53 
 
 Whether such modification has in truth occurred is a matter on which we are 
 of course not competent to judge, but it certainly strikes us that before it can 
 be satisfactorily elucidated, it requires a much more systematic investigation at 
 the hands of scientific men than it has ever received. The question is whether 
 disease mdigenous to this part of China now admittedly of "a very innocent 
 " type" (Ans. 1,439. p. 35), was not always mild in character; and whether the 
 bad forms were not brought here by foreigners. So far as we can venture to 
 form any opinion, Dr. Adams seems to us to strike the right clue when he says 
 (Ans. 1,468, p, 36) : " There is very much less syphilis now among the men, and 
 ^^ therefore the women don't get it ;" and (Ans. 1,474, p. 36) : '• The number of 
 "^ seamen who arrive here with primary syphilis is as nothing compared with 
 " those who cajne here diseased 15 or 16 years ago, which in itself is sufficient 
 " to account for the diminution of syphilis in the Colony." We are, however, 
 bound to add that Dr. Adams has personally always ascribed the modification of 
 disease chiefly to the Government system. Again (Ans. 1,492, p. 36), Dr. Adams 
 says, "all the cases of the most virulent type of syphilis came from Japan 
 " formerly, now I hardly ^et a case of any consequence, and I have not seen a 
 " case of black-pox for 10 years. In cholera and typhus it was the same." Dr. 
 Ayres speaks much to the same effect (Ans. 1,438, p. 35), and Inspector White- 
 head has testified that " seamen as a rule bring the disease into the brothels. 
 " When the " Kearsage " came down we had a lot of women diseased. There 
 " were a number of men diseased.'' (Ans. 348, p. 13). 
 
 Mr. Smith's strong opinion, on the other hand, is that "the women in unli- 
 " censed brothels receive Chinese, and these communicate the disease to 
 " foreigners." (Ans. 59, p. 3). Of course disease may and probably does 
 percolate into the Colony from this and from a dozen other subtle sources. But 
 the question is whether the really bad cases come from Chinese to foreigners or 
 vice versd. If Dr. Adams and Inspector Whitehead are riglit, and we strongly 
 incline to believe they are, the modification of the type of disease means no 
 more than that bad types have not come here recently from other ports. 
 
 The fact that Dr. Adams thought worttiy of our attention, viz., that among 
 40,000 or 50,000 Chinese passengers whom he passes for emigrants in the year 
 he notices " very few cases of secondary syphihs, although he carefully looks for 
 " signs of that malady," appears to cast no little light upon the nature of the 
 disease indigenous to South China. (Ans. 1,500-1-2, p. 36). Mr. Pang-Ui- 
 "Shang also tells us that disease is of a more virulent type in Hong Kong than 
 Canton. (Ans. 631, p. 19). 
 
 With such evidence before us we find great difficulty in acceding to the 
 theory that modification in the type of disease has been brought about in any 
 appreciable degree by the brothel laws. The proportion of women brought 
 under their operation as compared with those engaged in prostitution seems to 
 us far too small to support any such conclusion ; the more especially that it has 
 to be taken into consideration that the women come to the brothels from 
 the mainland (Ans. 7, p- 1)? and that constant changes occur among them. 
 (Ans. 22, p. 2, and 414, p. 14). 
 
 We therefore think that, the benefits which can fairly be attributed to the 
 brothel laws are those directly due to the weekly examination of a small out of 
 a large body of prostitutes, and the probable discovery of disease at an early 
 stage and the segregation of the women found diseased until they are cured. 
 The difference between the operation of the earlier and later Ordinance is 
 measmred by such benefits as may have arisen from the detection of 198 c3,ses of 
 disease among unlicensed prostitutes and the segregation of those women until 
 cured, it having however to be borne in mind that a very large ratio of these 
 women come from brothels frequented solely by Chinese ; and by such increase 
 in the number of licensed women as may have been due to the direct or deter- 
 rent effect of the Ordinance. This increase, never great, has for some years 
 been ao much on the decline, that at the end of 1877 the number of licensed 
 women stood at about the same figure as when the older Ordinance was 
 repealed. It is possible also that the fear of examination may have led some 
 of the lowest class women to adopt some habits of cleanliness of person foreign 
 to their ideas. 
 
 We have spoken, in the preceding paragraph, of the " heneficial effect " of the 
 
 Ordinance, but in using this expression we must not betaken to imply that like 
 
 results might not have been brought about without the intervention of the law. 
 
 0.56. G3 |n 
 
54 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 In the first place we are disposed to think that whatever good the purely sanitary 
 regulations of the Ordinance may do, is, to a great extent, neutralised by the 
 'icensing system which, by confining women within a narrow compass, increases 
 their opportunities of both getting and communicating disease ; and in the 
 second place we see no reason to doubt that the women would, if not immured 
 in licensed houses, as we believe that those in unlicensed houses do, resort 
 freely enough to their own doctors, whose treatment is not associated with a 
 system of confinement which they detest, is one in which they beheve, and in 
 which, so far as we can see, they have every right to place confidence. Mr. 
 Smith thinks that the Chinese have an effective mode of treatment of venereal 
 disease when it has not got too far. " Some of the Chinese doctors here are," he 
 says, "very good men." (Ans. 73, P- 4). Mr. Lister has also known one or 
 two Chinese doctors for years for whom he has a great respect, one especially 
 who treats nearly all the Portuguese here. (Ans. 146, p. 7)- l^r. Ayres, who 
 is naturally not very enthusiastic on the merits of Chinese treatment, says that 
 the Chinese treat syphilis as an ordinary sore which heals up. " The simple 
 " forms of venereal such as is known to us, chancroid," he allows that " the 
 " Chinese can cure, but in the more aggravated cases they cannot succeed. The 
 "simpler forms are common enough." (Ans. 1,412, p. 34). 
 
 The two Chinese medical gentlemen whom we had the opportunity of ex- 
 amining, Mr. Lum-Chau-Fan, the senior doctor of the Tung-Wah Hospital 
 (p. 15), and Mr. Pang-Ui-Shang (p. 19), gave us a good deal of information as 
 to Chinese ideas on tlie subject of venereal disease, tending to show at least that 
 it is one to which a great deal of attention has been paid. 
 
 Then it has to be remembered that the Chinese greatly prefer their own mode 
 of treatment to that of foreigners, and " they are perfectly alive to the necessity 
 " of taking precautionary measures against disease, and are no sooner sick 
 " than medical advice is sought. If the case is likely to prove troublesome, 
 " and the disease fails to succumb to the treatment, the patient is sent away, 
 " not only for change of air, but that she may receive elsewhere more care and 
 " nursing than could probably be obtained in a brothel. Every attention is 
 '•' paid by the keepers of these brothels to so important a matter, for they 
 " readily perceive that it is so much to their interest to prevent disease from 
 " being contracted in their houses." (Mr. Smith's letter of 1869, No. 75, p. 253.) 
 Mr. Smith, who is, in the above document, doubtless speaking of brothels for 
 Chinese, in substance repeated the same opinion in his examination before the 
 Commission. (Ans. 23, p. 2.) In all this we go entirely with Mr. Smith, but 
 what we do not understand is why the same train of reasoning should not apply 
 equally to houses for foreigners and for Chinese. It is true that in the former, 
 the women belong to a lower class, but interest would no less act as a powerful 
 incentive with them, and if they had not, what Dr. Adams has aptly called the 
 " Government stamp " to rely on as an inducement to men to frequent their 
 houses, the keepers and the women would, we think, soon be taught by the 
 pressure of competition, the advisability of conforming to sanitary rules. On the 
 whole, we doubt whether in this particular the elaborate machinery of the law 
 has wrought results substantially better than those which would have been 
 effected by the natural causes so well indicated by Mr. Smith himself. 
 
 We wish to add a word or two on the subject of prosecution against women 
 for infecting men with venereal disease. There have been happily, as we have 
 seen, but 37 cases in all of this class in 20 years. Many of these have been 
 dismissed, and in thus discouraging these charges those entrusted with the 
 administration of the law have shown, in our opinion, a higher discretion than 
 those who framed it and sanctioned it. 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 55 
 
 Part III. 
 Control op Prostitution and Brothels. 
 
 As we have already pointed out, the Ordinance of 1857 did not in terms 
 proviae tor the control of prostitution for other than sanitary reasons, but in 
 Mr. Labouchere s Despatch of the 27th August 1856, to Governor Sir John 
 liownng, acknowledging the draft of an Ordinance which had been sent home 
 10. p. 207), we find that the attention of the Colonial Government was 
 earnestly drawn " to the very grave fact that in a British Colony large numbers 
 
 ot women should be held in practical slavery for, purposes of prostitution," 
 and pointing out that a class of persons who by no choice of their own are sub- 
 jected to such treatment have an urgent claim on the active protection of 
 Governnient. It was recommended that this protection should be given by 
 means of the registration of brothels and their inmates, and by subjecting both 
 to police regulation, and it was hoped that " a law framed on these principles 
 
 • would furnish some immediate protection to those who are the first 
 
 " victims of the present system." 
 
 Accordingly we firid that although the brothels set apart for the sole use of 
 Chinese were never subjected to medical supervision, they were kept, in all 
 ' other particulars, under the same control as those for the accommodation of 
 foreigners. 
 
 The draft of the new Ordinance of 1867 contemplated the restriction of the 
 licensing system to brothels solely for the use of foreigners ; but upon the draft 
 being referred to a committee composed of the colonial surgeon, the deputy 
 inspector general of hospitals, the surgeon of the 73rd Regiment, and the 
 Registrar General, a difference of opinion arose on the point, two of the medical 
 authorities being of opinion that to make the Ordinance effectual all brothels 
 and all prostitutes should be brought under the license and surveillance of the 
 Government, " while Mr. Smith thought that such an interference with the 
 " private habits and customs of the Chinese as bringing the brothels supposed 
 " to be visited by Chinese men alone under the operation of the Ordinance, 
 " would be ineffectual." This opinion Mr. Smith supported in a separate 
 memorandum by reasons which appear to us to be unanswerable, and we cannot 
 help regretting that they were not permitted entirely to prevail. ^Document 
 No. 24, Enclosure A. and B., pp. 218 and 219.) The Governor, however, while 
 obviously holding in the main witii Mr. Smith's views, determined apparently 
 upon a compromise, and by a Minute (p 219) referred the draft to the Attorney 
 General " to remodel the Ordinance so as to include all brothels, but rendering 
 " the examination of women residing in other brothels than those which the 
 " Registrar General considers solely frequented by Europeans not compulsory 
 " as a matter Of course, but to be regarded as a species of penalty that may be 
 " inflicted whenever the expediency of such a measure is decided on." 
 
 It thus came about that an Ordinance was submitted to the Legislature, and 
 became law, which purported to place all licensed brothels on the same footing, 
 while it remained the intention of the Government to apply its most material 
 provisions, and those the ones alone contemplated by the Preamble, td the 
 greater part of the houses only by way of "penalty." As a matter of fact, as 
 we have seen, they have never been applied at all to the brothels for Chinese, 
 which have continued to be licensed for purposes,, however excellent in them- 
 selves, which could scarcely have been in the contemplation of the Legislature. 
 
 We'find, however, that in forwarding home the Ordinance, Sir R. G. Mac- 
 Donnell, in an exhaustive despatch of the 10th August 1867, fully explained 
 this position of#affairs to the Secretary of State, and tliat subsequently in a 
 detailed commmiication, dated Mentone, 8th January 1869 (p. 253), addressed 
 to the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr. Smith very fairly placed 
 all the issues connected with the subject before the same authorities, who have 
 never, so far as we can learn, objected to the very singular footing on which it 
 has for so long stood. 
 
 Now, for reasons presently to be stated, we are disposed to regard this mode 
 of dealing with the purely Chinese establishments as a somewhat serious matter. 
 ' 0;56. G 4 The 
 
5fi PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 The question for immediate consideration is how has it worked? j^ ^^ffj.^^ 
 the only result worthy a moment's consideration, viz., that J^ferred to m ivir. 
 Labouchere's Despatch of putting down the virtual slavery ^^ ;y°"''^^;"J'°r„ '' 
 the concluMons of those in the best position to form trustworthy op n-onss not 
 encouraging. Mr. Smith (Ans. 12, Appendix, p. 1) says : " I th.nk f ^^ use'^s^^o 
 « try and deal with the question of the freedom of Chmese prostitutes by law or 
 '« hy any Government regulation. From all the surroundings the thmg is im- 
 practicable." Mr. Listir also says : " I don't thmk the new Ordinance had 
 "any real effect, or could have had any effect upon the sale of women. _ (Ans. 
 112,0. 6). " I don't think any good is done by preventing women emigrating 
 "to San Francisco or other places, as their fate is just the same whether they 
 « go or not." (Ans. 113, p. 6). Mr. Bedell Le Yuen thinks that m going to 
 " California or Singapore, women are likely to be benefited, and to get nus- 
 " bands." (Ans. 773, Appendix, p. 22). 
 
 What the fate of the women who emigrate may be, we have no means ot 
 telling, but it seems difficult to suppose that it can be worse than that ot women 
 whose lot has condemned them to serve in the licensed brothels of Hons Kong 
 The weU-meant svstem devised by the Registrar General's Department which 
 requires every woman personally to appear be;fore an Inspector at the olface, 
 and declare her wiUingness to enter a hcensed brothel, and that she does so 
 without coercion, before she can be registered (Ans. 5, Appendix, p. 1), may 
 probably act as some check upon glaring cases of kidnapping, so far as the 
 licensed brothels are concerned. But it seems clear that for the supply of such 
 establishments, there is no need to resort to kidnapping in the ordinary accept- 
 ation of the term. There can be no doubt that, with the exception ot a com- 
 parativelv few who have been driven by adversity to adopt a Ufe of prostitution 
 when arrived at a mature age, the bulk of the girls are, in entering brothels, 
 merely fulfilling the career for which they have been brought up, and even if 
 they resent it, a few minutes conversation with a foreigner, probably the first 
 many of them have ever been brought into communication with, is but Uttle 
 likely to lead them to stultify the results of an education, according to whose 
 teachings, they are the property of others and under a necessity to obey their 
 directions. The idea that they"are at liberty not to enter a brothel unless they 
 wish it, must, to girls so brought up, be unintelligible. To what other source 
 indeed could they turn for a livehhood ? Who can tell moreover what hopes 
 or aspirations have been instilled into the minds of these girls? The life on 
 which they are about to enter has probably not been painted to her in its true 
 colours. Why should they shrink from it ? As a matter of fact, they never 
 do, and thus, for reasons utterly beyond the control of the authorities, the 
 benefits of this well-intended system of registration would seem to have proved 
 chimerical. 
 
 Mr. Smith, however, thinks, with regard to these women, " Government 
 " supervision does ameliorate their condition somewhat. The women are 
 " periodically seen in their houses by the Inspectors, and the cleanliness and 
 " comfort of the houses is carefully looked after." With the internal cleanli- 
 ness and comfort of brothels, we think the Government has but little to do. 
 It is the affair of those who reside in and frequent them. But the amelio- 
 ration of the condition of the inmates is a matter whicii certainly stands on a 
 different footing, and is one in which the Government has a deep interest. 
 
 We regret that, on this point, we are not in a position altogether to endorse 
 the opinion of Mr. Smith. It seems to us, having regard to the evidence given 
 to us by the brothel keepers whom we examined, that everything which strikes 
 foreigners as most objectionable in the Chinese brothel system flourishes practi- 
 cally unchecked within the regulated institutions. Young girls, virgins of 13 
 or 14 years of age, are brought from Canton or elsewhere, and deflowered 
 according to bargain, and, as a regular matter of business, for large sums of 
 money, which go to their owners, frequently it would appear their own parents. 
 (Evidence of Ho-a-Yee, Answers 1,203 to r,209, 1,227 to 1,230, pp. 30 and 31). 
 The regular earnings of the girls go to the same quarters, and the unfortunate 
 creatures obviously form subjects of speculation to regular traders in this kind 
 of business, who reside beyond our jurisdiction {ubi sup.). In most of the 
 regular houses, the inmates are more or less in debt to the keepers, and though 
 such debts are not legally enforceable, a custom stronger than law forbids the 
 woman to leave the brothel until her debts are liquidated, and it is only in 
 
 rare 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 57 
 
 rare cases that she does so. (Mr. Smith's evidence, ans. 10, p. 1). The women 
 m brothels for foreigners frequently change from house to house, but only, as 
 it would seem, to change from one servitude to another. 
 
 As to the brothel keepers, there is nothing known of them further than that 
 nothmg is known against them, and they are supported by capitalists. (Mr. 
 Smith's ans. 19, Appendix, p. 2). Mr. Lister refers to them as "a horrible 
 " race of women, cruel to the last degree, who use an ingenious form of torture, 
 " which they call prevention of sleep," which he describes in detail. (Ans. 143, 
 Appendix, p, 7.) Mr. Pang-Ui-Shang says : " The fact of licensing these 
 " brothels gives the keepers a sort of official authority. The keepers are a 
 " haughty sort of people, and they boast of the protection of the Inspectors." 
 (Ans. 664 and 665, Appendix, p. 20.) Mr. Bedell Le Yuen states : " I think 
 " the Inspectors would protect the girls as a rule if they could. Some of them 
 " are friends of the keepers. 1 do believe that mistresses are friends of the In- 
 " spectors, and that the mistresses threaten the girls with the medical examina- 
 " tion and with the inspectors, especially when girls wish to have their names 
 " taken oflf the register." (Ans. 761 and 762, Appendix, p. 22.) Mr. May 
 also thinks that the licensed brothel keepers look upon the Inspectors as their 
 protectors. (Ans. 286, Appendix, p. 12, see also ans. 423, p. 15.) Ho-Ui- 
 Shang,^ formerly an interpreter, also told us : " Licensed brothel keepers have 
 " offered me money, two or three times, and I have refused it. Girls wanted to 
 " free themselves, and the mistresses offered me money to prevent their doing 
 •' so. On one occasion I was offered five dollars ; on the second and third occa- 
 '•■ sions each two dollars." (Ans. 452, et seq., Appendix, p. 15.) 
 
 It seems that although the Brothel Ordinances did not call into being this 
 "horrible," "cruel," and "haughty" race of women, they ha,ve armed them 
 with obvious powers, which they, would not otherwise have possessed, and there 
 is consequently reason to apprehend that Government supervision accentuates 
 in some respects rather than relieves the hardships of the servitude of the 
 inmates. 
 
 Mr. Smith has told us that brothels for Chinese are registered " more as a 
 " matter of law and order than on sanitary grounds." (Ans. 4, p. 1 .) It seems 
 to us, however, for this purpose special legislation never was required. " Dis- 
 " turbances in brothels for Chinese only are hardly ever known, but disturb- 
 " ances among brothels for foreigners are occasional. These women submit 
 " to a great deal of bad usage before they call in the police." (Evidence of 
 Mr. Creagb, ans. 230 and 231, Appendix, p. 11.) Mr. Creagh speaks in high 
 terms also of the honesty of these women, " which is very well established by 
 " facts known to the police." (Ans. 209 and 210, p. 11.) Mr. May, whose 
 experience as police magistrate and superintendent of police, reaches back to 
 times before the Ordinance of 1857 came into force, says, in speaking of those 
 times, " The women as prostitutes gave no trouble, nor were the houses in any 
 " sense of the word dangerous, or, as causing trouble, objectionable. They are 
 " more injured than causes of injury." (Ans. 269, Appendix, p. 12.) " The 
 " brothels gave us no such trouble as to call for special regulations, I found 
 " if disorder occurred in a brothel it was not the fault of" the inmates." (Ans. 
 272 and 273, p. 12.) 
 
 One of the objects of the prosecutions of inmates of unlicensed brothels was, 
 as we know, to compel these women to enter legalised houses. It is, however, 
 a serious question whether passing from an unlicensed to a licensed house is 
 not too often a step downwards in the career of a prostitute. Foreigners know 
 but very little on the subject, but it is only reasonable to conclude that the 
 status of Chinese prostitutes, miserable as it appears tons, is subject to a great 
 many palliations from causes partly inherent in the nature, education, wants 
 and ideas of the women themselves, and partly due to that unwritten law of 
 custom which is so powerful in China. Any foreign system, benevolently 
 designed for their good, is likely to strike wide of the mark. 
 
 This position can be illustrated by taking the case of the keepers. Now, 
 under every system, and whether here or on the mainland, these people doubt- 
 less form a race of rapacious harpies. But within the Empire they are only 
 tolerated, and here, when not licensed, they carry on an illegal business subject 
 to prosecution. But give a woman of such a class a license, and let her pay for 
 it and how can she regard herself otherwise than as a favoured instrument of 
 Government, holding a passport to fortune and a charter to make it as quickly 
 
 0.56.' " H and 
 
58 PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 and as best she can ? The accustomed and familiar restraints are removed, and 
 the artificial checks incident to Government supervision are of that kind which 
 can be most easily evaded. 
 
 Inspectors, Interpreters, &e. 
 
 Government supervision of brothels practically means the supervision of 
 inspectors and interpreters, and it is desirable that we should now pay some 
 attention to the subject of these officers and their duties. 
 
 The intention of the Government under the Ordinance of 1857, apparently 
 was that it should be worked with the aid of the whole body of police ; but 
 as early as 1860, we find the Registrar General (Mr. D. R. Caldwell) reporting 
 to the Colonial Secretary that " upon the first promulgation of the Ordinance, 
 " the superintendent of police manifested an indisposition to interfere in the 
 " working of it from a belief that it opened a door to corruption to the members 
 " of the force under him." And Mr. May, the superintendent of police alluded 
 to, has himself told us that "he is certain he would have never permitted the 
 " pohce to have anything to do with the control and supervision of brothels 
 " under the Ordinance, being apart from the general objects of police duties, 
 " and from the great probability of its leading to corruption." 
 
 It thus came about that on Mr. Caldwell's application, the office of inspector 
 of brothels was created, and the holder of it was invested by the Government 
 with legal authority to enter brothels. (Documents 1 6 and 19, pp. 210 and 21 2.) 
 Until 1868 the duties seem tohave been performed by one man, but in that 
 year, upon the application of Mr. Smith, an assistant inspector and subsequently 
 a second assistant inspector were appointed. (Documents 38 and 39, p. 228.) 
 From that time to the present there have always been one chief and two assistant 
 inspectors. Mr. Whitehead is the present chief inspector, and he is assisted by 
 Mr. Lee and Mr. Horton. 
 
 These posts, although fairly, lucrative, do not seem to be coveted by men of 
 a very high class. For instance. We find in a report dated 11th December 1873 
 (Appendix, p. 233), by the captain superintendent of police, Mr. Deane, and 
 the acting Registrar General, Mr. Tonnochy, that they were not prepared to 
 recommend any one for an appointment to a vacancy which had just occurred, 
 owing to the reluctance of the police inspectors to accept " the office of inspector 
 "of brothels." Mr. Creagh says (ans. 228, Appendix, p. 11), that the post 
 is not one " which any of our inspectors would take. They look down on the 
 " post. They are of a class very inferior to those who would be inspectors 
 " with us. I don't believe any one wishes it, but constables, or perhaps Serjeants 
 " would take the post for the pay." Mr. Deane would also " object to its being 
 " made a part of the duty of the general police to enforce the Contasious 
 " Diseases Acts. My inspectors and Serjeants," he says, " would so strongly 
 "object to taking the office that I should be unable to get any one on 
 
 " whom I could rely The inspectors of police look down on 
 
 " the inspectors of brothels." (Ans. 1,525-26-30, Appendix, p. 36a.) 
 
 Dr. Ayres tells us : " You cannot get men fitted for the work at the present 
 " salaries, and you have to put tremendous powers into the hands qf men like 
 "those we have." (Ans. 1,420, p. 35.) These men do not belong to the 
 "police force (ans. 226, Appendix, p. U), but are specially attached to the 
 Registrar General's Department, and are rated on the medical establishments. 
 The men employed have not been generally acquainted with the Chinese 
 language, but as their duties lie entirely among Chinese they have been 
 furnished with an interpreter, who down to a comparatively recent date was 
 generally a Police Lokong attached for the purpose to the Registrar General's 
 Department. The last two or three interpreters, however, have not belonged 
 to this class. Their pay has been 15 dollars per month. 
 
 We have already considered at length one of the most important of the duties 
 performed by the mspectors with the aid of their interpreters, viz that con 
 nected with the suppression of unUcensed brothels ; the other branch of their 
 duties which now claims attention comprises the supervision of the licensed 
 prostitution. This is how chief inspector Whitehead explains the practice of 
 the office as lUustrated by his own experience: " I have the power to walk 
 through every room in every brothel any time, night and day. I visit every 
 foreign house once every week, and sometimes go a second time to some of 
 
 " them. 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 59 
 
 " them. I don't walk all through the rooms. The women sit in a sitting-room, 
 " and I call the names out from the board. T don't go through the rooms if I 
 " see the women sitting in the sitting-room. In Chinese brothels I order the 
 "women down and the interpreter stands by to prevent people from going in 
 " or out, and then I order all the women down and call out their names. Each 
 " brothel is visited once a week alternately by myself and Lee. To Chinese 
 " houses 1 pay surprise visits at 7 p.m., at midnight, or 1 a.m. J do this to see 
 " if there are any complaints among the inmates. I find men lying dovra some- 
 " times, hut 1 don't interfere with them at all. I make these visits to prevent 
 " any woman being detained against her will, and to prevent the keepers ill- 
 " using any inmates. My interpreter goes with me. 1 have no record of such 
 " visits. I make no reports of these visits to the Registrar General, and he 
 
 " keeps no record I ask for orders and make reports when there is 
 
 "something special." (Ans. 330 to 340 inclusive, Appendix, p. 13.) As 
 to the details of his duties, this witness only got verbal instructions. (Ans. 
 302, p. 13.) 
 
 Tliis kind of Government supervision of brothels has, as it might be expected, 
 been the parent of not a few prosecutions. Under the Ordinance of 18.57 these 
 were mainly confined to the offences of non-compliance on the part of the 
 keepers of houses with the regulations requiring them to have correct lists of 
 women hung up, of non-payment of brothel license fees, and the like, and 
 require no further consideration. 
 
 Under the Ordinance of 1867 also, the incorrectness of lists of inmates, or not 
 having the lists properly exhibited, remained one of the most frequent subjects 
 of complaint ; but a number of other petty charges, such as those of creating 
 disturbances in the lock hospital or in licensed brothels, of inmates of brothels 
 out on pass not presenting themselves for examination, of Chinese men being 
 found in brothels for foreigners, of having children in brothels, of keeping 
 brothels in a dirty state, of inmates of brothels fighting with each other, and 
 such like, have also been heard, which we do not stop to comment on. But 
 a few cases of greater importance, and bearing more directly on the condition 
 of inmates of licensed houses, have also been tried, to which we shall now briefly 
 refer. 
 
 In 1869 we find one brothel keeper fined 10 dollars for ill-treating a girl who 
 said she had been decoyed to Hong Kon^ and sold to defendant (case 30), and 
 another brothel keeper (case 31) fined 20 dollars for taking two girls to Kow- 
 loong to sell them against their will. 
 
 In 1870 there were three cases against keepers for beating their inmates. 
 Two were dismissed, and one woman was fined 5 dollars and ordered to find 
 security for good behaviour. There was one case of two inmates and the keeper 
 of a licensed house threatening another inmate, which resulted in a conviction 
 against two of the defendants, one being fined 1 dollar, and the other called 
 on to find security in 50 dollars for good behaviour. In the same year there 
 was a fourth case (No. bl, p. 91) against three defendants, one of whom was a 
 keeper of a licensed house, for kidnapping three women and assaulting them, 
 which ended in two defendants being discharged, and in the keeper being con- 
 victed of the assault and fined 25 dollars. 
 
 In 1871 there were three charges (cases 56, 74, and 80) against keepers of 
 detaining inmates against their will, two being discharged and one convicted 
 and fined 2 dollars. There were also two prosecutions against keepers for 
 beating their inmates (cases 63 and 98), one of which was dismissed. One 
 ■Jefendant was convicted and fined 1 dollar. 
 
 In 1872 there were three charges against keepers of beating their inmates, 
 resulting in two convictions and fines of 5 dollars and 10 dollars, and in one 
 dispiissal. In a fourth similar case a keeper was condemned to pay one of her 
 inmates 10 cents by way of amends for keeping back part of her earnings and 
 beating her. A servant in a brothel was also required to find security m 
 100 dollars to answer any charge within six months for threatening to sell one 
 of the inmates (case 59). 
 
 In 1873 there were four charges against brothel keepers for assaulting or 
 otherwise ill-treating their inmates, which all ended in- convictions. In one 
 
 0.56. I «^s^ 
 
6o PAPERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 case (No. 7) the defendant was fined 3 dollars. In three cases (Nos. 28, 30, 
 and 34) the defendants were subjected to imprisonmeut with hard labour one 
 for three months, and two for two months each. One of the latter also had ner 
 license cancelled. In this year a keeper was fined 10 dollars for allowing an 
 inmate to die in the street. 
 
 In 1874 one inmate of a brothel was ordered to find security for biting 
 another. (Case No. 8.) A licensed brothel keeper and a man apparently her 
 husband were fined, the former 15 dollars and the latter 20 dollars for lil- 
 treating a servant, and it is to be noted that, in this case, the first defendant 
 went to the inspector's (Whitehead) house with a complaint against the servant. 
 (Case 20, p. 153.) In case 39 (p. 162), a keeper was fined 50 dollars and her 
 license cancelled for having an incorrect list, the gravamen of the charge, 
 however, obviously being that she had a woman, who declared herself to have 
 been kidnapf^ed, in her brothel. In this instance the kidnapped woman had, 
 when before the inspector, declined to be registered, and this is the only instance 
 we have succeeded in finding among the judicial records of any offence having 
 been detected by the system of registration we have before alluded to. In this 
 year also, a keeper was fined 5 dollars for beating one of her inmates. 
 
 In 1875 an inmate of a licensed house was fined 10 dollars for assault and 
 disturbance. (Case 7.) In case No. 20, a keeper was fined 100 dollars for 
 allowing a disturbance in her brothel, and an inmate fined 50 dolhtrs for making 
 an assault. 
 
 In 1876 (case No. 6,871, p. 18/) a keeper was fined 25 dollars for having an 
 incorrect Ust of inmates, the gravamen of the charge, however, being that she 
 had beaten an inmate. It is somewhat significant that in this case the inmate 
 had been in the house, according to the inspector, for two months, and the 
 matter was only found out by her running away, and complaining to a Lokong 
 in the streets. 
 
 In 1877 there are no cases bearing on this subject. 
 
 It should be added that it is possible that some of the prosecutions for having 
 incorrect lists may in fact cover charges of a graver character, such as kid- 
 napping or ill-treating inmates, but, if so, the fact has not been put forward 
 with sufficient clearness to attract our attention. 
 
 During the 10 years, therefore, in which the Ordinance of 1867 has been in 
 force, we can' only find 23 cases, in all, whicli seem to have any material bearing 
 on the question of the liberty of the women in licensed houses and the ameUora- 
 tion of their condition ; and even in regard to these cases, we think it probable 
 that many of them answer to the description given of such cliarges by Mr. 
 Smith in his Mentone letter (para. 16, p. 254) : " But much fraud is practised 
 " by prostitutes on the keepers of the licensed houses. The former, for a sum 
 " of monej^, agree to become inmates of a particular brothel, and after being 
 " provided with clothing, lodging, and food, bring a charge of illegal detention 
 " against the keeper, which is never attempted to be substantiated, the only 
 " object of such a course being to obtain time and opportunity to escape out of 
 " the colony with their ill-gotten gains, &c." 
 
 The question with which we are now concerned is whether results like the 
 foregoing could not have been better achieved by the ordinary process of law, 
 and without any special Government supervision, by means of inspectors holding 
 exceptional powers. This is a serious question, which may perhaps be best 
 answered indirectly by quoting the opinions of some witnesses familiar with the 
 subject. Mr. Lister " was always uneasy about his inspectors, because," he 
 says, " I knew many houses could afford to bribe them ; some could afford to 
 " pay 15 dollars or 20 dollars a month." (Ans. 126, Appendix, p. 6.) "The 
 " Registrar General is very much dependent on the inspectors, and their 
 " temptations are exceptionally great. An inspector might easily double his 
 " salary, that is, he could do so, without giving rise to suspicions, or without 
 " squeezing the people to such an extent as to give rise to complaints . , ." 
 " If the inspector escapes demoralisation, he does so from his own qualities, 
 " &c." (Ans. 130, 132, Appendix, p. 6.) Mr. Wodehouse thinks "there is 
 " also room for the inspectors to abuse their powers and to extort money either 
 " by threats or as hush money. Both these risks appear to be inseparable 
 
 " from 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 61 
 
 " from the present system." Inspector Lee admits that " it is the practice of 
 " the Chinese to offer money to keep things quiet." And, as we have aheady 
 seen, such has been the experience of at least one interpreter. Mr. BedeU Le 
 Yuen " thinks the employment of inspectors in supervising brothels for Chinese 
 " only tends to introduce grave abuses. From my experience I think it is a 
 " very dangerous thing to entrust Europeans, of the class to which inspectors 
 " of brothels belong, with power over Chinese." 
 
 It is clear at any rate that the duties which these officers have to perform 
 are hopelessly demoralising, and that, in the performance of them, they are 
 subject to extraordinary temptations. {See Appendix, pp. 225 to 234 
 inclusive.) 
 
 Location of Licensed Brothels. 
 
 Those provisions of the Ordinance of 1857 which restricted registered 
 brothels to certain districts were not re-enacted in 1867, authority to the 
 Governor in Council to appoint any localities for such purpose being sub- 
 stituted for them. 
 
 By a Memo, of the 1st April 1868, Mr. Smith recommended that the old 
 localities should be again appointed, and this suggestion was approved in 
 Council by the Governor on the 9tli of the same month. (Doct. 48, p. 235.) 
 When Mr. Lister came into office, however, he took a different view of the 
 situation, and, for reasons very clearly stated by him in "his report (paras. 11, 
 12, and 13, p. 256), he licensed " thirteen houses in the more central part of 
 " the town," with " 54 women therein resident as prostitutes." Six houses, 
 however, having been brought into the neighbourhood of foreign residence, 
 " it was quite certain," as Mr. Lister puts it, that " many -estimable people 
 " would object to them did they know of their existedce." This, indeed, has 
 been the case. {See papers referring to localities of brothels, pp. 235 
 et seq ) 
 
 Among other localities chosen for planting licensed houses was unfortunately 
 Wellington-street, described by Mr. Deane as one of the " leading thoroughfares 
 " of the city, and one especially traversed on the occasion of any entertainment 
 " at the City Hall." (Doct. 55, pp. 237 and 238.) Mr. Deane has " received 
 " many complaints of the indecent state of this street. The first floors are a 
 " blaze of light, and prostitutes look from every window, occasionally caUing 
 " out and inviting passers by to enter." (Ibid.) Mr. May also describes this 
 thoroughfare as -one " necessarily passed through by European ladies, and 
 " therefore peculiarly unsuited for licensed brothels for Europeans." 
 
 Wellington-street, moreover, contains the chief place of worship of a large 
 Roman Catholic community, the residence of the Roman Catholic Bishop, and 
 a college for the education of youth ; and on those grounds alone was un- 
 doubtedly entitled to exemption from these houses. They would now seem to 
 have been all very properly removed. 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 In reply to the questions from the Right Honourable the Secretary of State, 
 which have been forwarded to us asking for information, (1) as to whether the 
 balance of the fund formed under Ordinance 12 of 1867, section 66, amounts to 
 50,000 dollars, as stated ; and (2) as to the manner in which the revenue derived 
 from houses of ill-fame is raised and expended for the service of the colony, we 
 beg to refer to the Colonial Treasurer's letter of the 12th June 1878 (Dacu- 
 ment No. 10, App., p. 3 J 6), and to the following documents and returns which 
 have been prepared either at our instance or by ourselves : Enclosure B. to 
 No. 2 (p. 314), and Documents No. 50 (p. 309 , No. 51 (p. 310), and No. /52 
 
 From these it appears that, (I) no fund has ever been formed either under 
 Ordinance 12 of 1857 or Ordinance 10 of 1867, but that the monies raised both 
 by the licences from houses of ill-fame, and from the fines inflicted under the 
 provisions of these Ordinances, have been expended in the general service of 
 the colony ; and (2) that the actual revenue derived from this source since and 
 including 1857 down to the end of 1877, amounted to 187,508-00 dollars, to 
 which must be added the Admiralty allowance from 1870 to 1877, amounting to 
 
 0.56. I 2 28,860 
 
62 PAFERS RELATING TO THE 
 
 28,860 dollars, and fines estimated at 5,000 dollars, making a total of 
 221,368-00 dollars. 
 
 The expenditure, as taken from the colonial estimates, and which may douDt- 
 less be accepted as approximately correct, for the same period, reached 
 110,21870 dollars, to which has to he added 36,332-15 dollars spent upon the 
 cost, alteration and maintenance of the Lock Hospital. As however the Lock 
 Hospital is probably now worth all the money which has been expended on it, 
 the colony must have derived from the operation of the brothel laws a profit 
 amounting on the whole to about 111, 149-30 dollars. 
 
 The Attitude of Government towards the Brothel Laws. 
 
 There are many things in the attitude of the Government towards the brothel 
 system which are eminently unsatisfactory. 
 
 In the first place, the principle of licensing houses of ill-fame, in considera- 
 tion of fees paid, seems, in itself, highly unsatisfactory. Mr. Smith has told us 
 that " Ordinance 10 of 1867 was formed on the basis of the Imperial Act, 1866, 
 " so far as the circumstances of the colony would admit." But imperial legis- 
 lation has certainly never recognised brothels as an institution, nor made the 
 Hcensing of them a matter of revenue. Moreover, the imperative sanitary 
 reasoiis'which formed the ostensible, and indeed the only admissible ground for 
 establishing governmental relations with brothels, only hold good with respect 
 to less than one-third of the privileged estabhshments, and the great majority 
 have been allowed to contribute funds year by year towards a sanitary scheme 
 the benefits of which their inmates have refused practically to partake of. 
 
 In the next place, there is much that is compromising to the Government in 
 the ridicule and contempt in which women subject to medical examination are 
 held by their countrymen, and in the circumstance, that the fines of unlicensed 
 prostitutes are, as we have been told, sometimes paid at the expense of renewed 
 or prolonged continuation of their servitude, or the sale of their children. For 
 instance, in case No. 61 of 1872 (p. 1 12), in the depositions of Inspector King, 
 we find the following statement :- — 
 
 " The defendant was brought up here about a month ago for out-door 
 " prostitution. She was fined 25 dollars or a month's imprisonment, and to be 
 " medically examined. She was found diseased and was in hospital for about 
 " three weeks. When she came out, a woman named Ho-a-Yow paid the 
 " defendant's fine for her. The defendant then entered as an inmate of brothel 
 " No. 90." The defendant herself in her defence says : — " A woman named 
 " Ho-a-Yow lent me 25 dollars to pay my fine, I was introduced to her by a 
 " woman named A-Yow, whom I met in the hospital. This A-Yow is an inmate 
 " of brothel No. 90. In consideration of the 25 dollars, Itvas to serve Ho-a-Yow 
 "for two years. She did not force me to take the 25 dollars. If I had not 
 " borrowed the dollars I should have had to go to prison." This case throws 
 some light upon a practice mentioned by one of the brothel keepers, Li-a-Chuk, 
 whom we examined, and who (ans. 1,126, p. 29) told us that, " We sometimes 
 " hear from the ins[)ectors of girls who have been convicted of being inmates of 
 " sly brothels who are in the Lock Hospital and who want to get into' licensed 
 " houses, and we go to the Loc;k Hospital and get them. This is the only class 
 " of new gills I have got." With characteristic caution this witness subse- 
 quently added (ans. 1,128), "I have never had such girls from the Lock 
 " Hospital myself, but other keepers have." Mr. Smith has never known of 
 such a case, and thinks the incident improbable-. (Doct. No. 2, para. 10, p. 313 ) 
 We, however, see no reason to doubt the truth of the inspector's evidence, or the 
 statement of the woman. 
 
 The case of the deceased woman Wong-Tai-Yau affords an instance where a 
 woman has had to sell her child to pay her fine. " The deceased and Tai-Yau " 
 says Ng-a-Kan, the informer, " kneeled before me. They were much frightened 
 " Tai-Yau said, ' 1 was fined 100 dollars before. I sold my son to pay the fine' 
 " ' and you must not say anything now.' " (Deposition of Ng-a-Kan before 
 the Coroner, p. vi.) Interrogated by us as to the |)robable truth of this story 
 the interpreter, Cheang-a-Iu, said (ans. 582 and 583, p. 18), " She (i e Tai- 
 " Yau) was fined 100 dollars. It is said that Tai-Yau had to sell her son to 
 " pay that fine. She sold her son for 40 dollars to 50 doUars, a child four or 
 " five years old. After selUng her son for 40 dollars she had to borrow the 
 
 " balance. 
 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 63 
 
 " balance. Probably she would have to prostitute herself to repay the money. 
 " It must have been so, otherwise she would not have been re-arrested." Mr. 
 Bedell Le Yuen speaking to this .point, told us, " I know they (i.e., women 
 " generally who had been fined) borrowed the money to pay the fines. I 
 "think it quite true that Wong-Tai-Yau sold, her child to pay the fine." 
 Finally we have no doubt that in forcing this law upon Chinese women the 
 Government places itself in antagonism to the feehngs of the Chinese com- 
 munity, which, in their answers to the Commission, we beheve that Mr. Pang- 
 Ui-Shang and Mr. Bedell Le Yuen fairly represent. (Ans. 659 and 663, p. 20, 
 ans. 757-60, p. 22.) 
 
 Conclusions and Suggestions. 
 To sum up briefly the, results of our inquiry, we are of opinion : — 
 
 1. That the prosecutions' which have been conducted both under the 
 Ordmances of 1857 and of 1867 have been attended with serious scandals 
 and abuses, and that the system of informers employed in the detection of 
 illicit prostitution cannot be too emphatically condemned. 
 
 2. That, as regards the suppression or termination of unlicensed houses and 
 unregistered prostitutes, such precautions have been ineffectual. 
 
 3. That the number of women caught under sanitary regulations has always 
 been, as compared with those left unregulated, insisjnificant ; and that there is 
 no sufficient evidence to show that the spread of venereal disease has been 
 checked or prevented, or its type modified, by the operation of the brothel 
 laws. 
 
 4. That licensed brothels for foreigners are in themselves sources of infection, 
 and that the evidence before us points to these establishments, rather than to 
 unUcensed houses, as the causes of disease to soldiers and sailors. 
 
 5. That Government has exercised a soupd discretion in not applying the 
 medical clauses of the Ordinances to houses for the sole use of Chinese, and 
 that any attempt to do so would end in mischievous failure. 
 
 6. That Government supervision of houses for the sole use of Chinese has 
 had no appreciably beneficial results; that the Ordinances did not contemplate 
 or justify the licensing and regulation of such houses for purposes other 
 than those connected with the suppression of venereal disease, and that such 
 houses should never have been made a so urce of revenue. 
 
 7. That the employment of inspectors of brothels and interpreters has been 
 a frequent source of abuse and corruption ; that the work they have to perform 
 is thoroughly demoralising, and that a wise discretion has been exercised in 
 not permitting the general body of police to be engaged in carrying out the 
 brothel laws. 
 
 8. That the medical examination of their persons is odious to Chinese 
 women, that it is completely opposed to their own ideas and feelings, and 
 exposes those who undergo it to the ridicule and contempt of their country- 
 men. That the system is disliked by the whole Chinese community, and is 
 open to the gravest misconceptions on their part. 
 
 9. That the quasi ofHcial recognition of houses of ill-fame implied by grant- 
 ing them licences in return for fees paid, is a very objectionable system in the 
 existing brothel system, and imposes on the Government responsibilities which 
 it cannot adequately fulfil. • 
 
 Our conclusions being therefore on all points unfavourable to the existing 
 brothel system, we should, had we been prepared to act altogether on our own 
 convictions, have recommended its entire abolition, and the repeal of the 
 Ordinance ; and that prostitution be left to be dealt with solely as a matter of 
 law and order. But as the high naval and military medical authorities, to 
 whom we referred the papers, have, upon the same facts and figures as we 
 have founded oiir opinions on, arrived at conclusions, as to the sanitary results 
 of the Ordinance, which do not coincide with our own, and as we fully recognise 
 the value of those conclusions, we recommend that all prosecutions against 
 the keepers and inmates of unlicensed brothels, which we have Been told, 
 
 0,56. I 3 and 
 
64 PAPERS :— CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ORDINANCE, HONG KONG. 
 
 and which we beheve, are bound up with the system of informers hitherto 
 employed, should be definitely abandoned. 
 
 We think it most probable that, without the compulsion of criminal liability, 
 a class of women will be found, as heretofore, ready to enter as inmates of 
 licensed brothels for foreigners, and to subject themselves to periodical medical 
 examination and segregation in hospital, in the event of their being infected, in 
 consideration of the real or supposed advantages in the way of business their 
 recognised position will afford them. But, in any event, we are distinctly of 
 opinion that the continuance of the system of prosecution hitherto pursued is 
 entirely out of the question. 
 
 We recommend that the licences to be granted in future should be strictly limited 
 to houses for the accommodation of foreigners, and that in the future houses 
 for the sole u?e of Chinese should not be in any way subject to Government 
 supervision. We see no reason why out-door prostitutes, whether in the town 
 or harbour, should not be dealt with as heretofore under the Ordinance, great 
 care and caution, however, being taken as to the evidence employed. 
 
 We recommend that no prosecutions against women for infecting men with 
 venereal disease be allowed to be instituted in future. We advise that both in 
 the examination of their persons and in their medical treatment, the feelings 
 and prejudices of the women should be consulted as far as possible. Sanitary 
 regulations ought not to be converted into a'means of punishment further than 
 the absolute necessity of the case requires ; and we think that the less irksome 
 and distasteful the rules for the sanitation of women are made, the less likely 
 are they to be evaded. 
 
 Finally, we recommend that an Ordinance be laid before the Legislative 
 Council embodying the amendments in the law which we have suggested. 
 
 (signed) Thos. C. Hayllar, Chairman. 
 
 December 18/8. E. J. Eitel. 
 
 Note by Mr. Keswick. 
 
 I j4m of opinion that the condemnation bv my brother Commissioners of 
 the Ordinances of 1857 and of 1867 is too sweeping, although I agree with 
 them Ihat abuses of a very serious character have been proved to have 
 occurred, and which indeed appear to be inevitable in working Acts which 
 brmg mto their service the lowest classes of both Europeans and Natives 
 
 I do not consider it proved that the objecfs of the Contagious Diseases 
 Ordmances have been wholly unrealised. Perfect success and the complete 
 stampmg out of disease are not attainable, but I am .of opinion the licensing 
 system and the medical examination of women and their segregation when 
 diseased, have conduced greatly to a modification of the type of venereal 
 disease m the colony, and have tended much to check the spread of disease 
 
 I am of opinion that brothels for the sole use of Chinese should continue to 
 be hcensed for purposes of law and order, and for sanitary reasons, but on 
 account of Chinese prejudices I consider the medical examination of the in 
 mates should remain m abeyance as heretofore. 
 
 I am of opinion that the imposition of fees should be continued and that 
 collections under Ordinance No. 10 of 1867, for the purposes of the Ordinance 
 are legitimate and proper. The returns which have been furnished of recSpts 
 and of expenditurS from 1857 to 1877, both years inclusive, show an average 
 annualexcess of revenue of about 3,600 dollars, which sura, however wouM 
 probably entirely disappear were the Registrar General's Depkrtment credited 
 with Its full share of incidental expenses in working the Ordinance It would 
 appear, therefore, that revenue has not been derived in excess of ^vnpJ-? 
 under the provisions of the Ordinance. °* expenditure 
 
 '^ ^'^^^^^ ^«7^'- (signed) W. Ke^ick.